


Fairy Tail's Ultimate Hope

by TriMaplenut



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Fairy Tail
Genre: Crossover, Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, F/M, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2018-05-31 06:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 125,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6459247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriMaplenut/pseuds/TriMaplenut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After leaving behind the School of Mutual Killing, Makoto awakens to find himself in a world with flying cats and magical powers. He'll need some help to find the others, too. Maybe it won't be so bad... Fairy Tail seems like a nice place. Look out Fiore, here comes the Earth Dragon Slayer! (Spoilers for DR1)</p><p>Disclaimer: Dangan Ronpa and Fairy Tail belong to their respective owners. The OCs in the story belong to me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fairy Tail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After leaving Hope's Peak Academy behind, Makoto wakes up to find himself in a strange land without any of his friends in sight...

Makoto groaned as he was inexplicably roused from his sleep. He’d had such a long day yesterday—couldn’t he just sleep in a little? He rolled over onto his side trying to get comfy again, the crunching and crackling of dead leaves echoing around the empty office floor where he and the others settled down to sleep the previous night. Letting out a deep breath and shuffling on the ground a bit more, he resigned himself to a long wait before his body would eventually fall back—

He paused.

Much to the protest of his lazy inner voice, Makoto forced open his eyes and slowly pulled himself upright, trying to remember the last thing that happened.

After exiting the school building and discovering it was close to sunset, the survivors agreed that they didn’t want to spend another moment in the godforsaken prison. Leaving with only a few supplies, they traveled until they came across an abandoned building that seemed safe enough from robot bears and crazy despair-loving psychos to spend the night.

He expected to see the dimly sunlit office room he and his friends had camped out in.

Instead, Makoto woke up to find himself smack dab in the middle of a forest.

* * *

 

“What the…?” Makoto muttered. He rubbed at his eyes and looked around him. Yeah, he was still in a forest. “How did I…?”

Rising to his feet, Makoto scanned the area again, trying to make out the familiar shapes of any of his friends. “Kyoko! Hina! Hiro, Toko, Byakuya! Are you guys there?!”

He waited for a response. Receiving none, he shouted out again, hoping that someone would be nearby. He searched the area for any sign of his friends—or anyone really—but stuck close to where he woke up, just in case someone knew he was there and came back.

After a while with no success, Makoto sighed heavily and plopped himself down onto a toppled tree trunk, burying his face in his hands. He took a deep breath in. As he released it he removed his hands, placed them on the log to steady himself, and leaned back slightly to stare at the canopy of the forest, spying parts of the blue sky through the gaps in the leaves.

“How’d I even get here…?” Makoto questioned, shooting glances into the trees in case he saw anything that might hint at someone being there. “I don’t remember there being any forests in the city.”

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black blazer; in one pocket was his dorm room key—fat lot of good that was now that he was lost in a forest, he thought to himself deadpanned—in the other were a few slips of paper. He left them in there and pulled his hands back out, frustrated.

“Did someone put me here?” Makoto wondered, speaking aloud in an attempt to combat the silence. “How’d they move me without waking me up? How’d they even get into the office without alerting the others?”

Makoto paused for a moment to think about it before he groaned and shook his head. “Ugh, all these questions aren’t helping when I don’t even have any clues to go off of. The important thing I need to be doing now is finding the others and regrouping!” he declared, shooting up to his feet with renewed vigor.

A wind blew through the forest, disrupting a few leaves on the trees and bringing them along in the breeze.

Makoto let out another sigh as he rubbed his head. “Of course, that’s easier said than done. They could all still be at that empty office, for all I know.” He glanced towards the patch of grass he’d been sleeping on earlier. He bit his lip as he ran over his possible courses of action. “I should probably go looking around, but what if somebody knows I’m here? If I move, it’ll be harder for anyone to find me.”

He crossed his arms. “But I can’t just wait around here forever… If I find someone, I can just ask where I am and then it’ll be easier to decide what to do from there. Okay!” He smiled happily. Finally, a plan of action! Now all he needed to do was pick a direction.

“Hmm…” Makoto looked around him. It wasn’t clear which way might lead him somewhere useful just from looking. His gaze landed on one of the trees near him. “Maybe if I climb a little higher, I could see something…”

Aoi was usually the one to undertake athletic ventures, but Makoto felt pretty confident in the tree; the branches looked sturdy and were close enough to each other that he wouldn’t struggle in climbing it. Thinking optimistic thoughts, Makoto heaved himself up onto the first branch, then the next, and the next.

Things were going well. He was already quite a ways up the tree, but not yet high enough to see anything useful. Branches were still easy to find and, in the event that he didn’t have one to propel him higher, he could just use the trunk of the tree as leverage without much difficulty.

In retrospect, that should’ve been the first hint that something would go wrong.

Not moments after muttering to himself, “Not too fast, Makoto… Need to watch where I put my feet…” he heard the branch he’d just stepped on crack ominously under his weight. He had a split second to regret his life and all decisions leading up to his action before he heard a second crack beneath him and he plummeted down.

After crashing through and slamming into what felt like at least two dozen tree branches on the way down, Makoto let out a long and loud moan of pain after he landed on his stomach with a painful-sounding thud. He rolled over onto his back and looked up at the distance he fell, leaves scattered in the wind from the fall.

Feeling slightly confused, he sat up and checked himself over for any injuries sustained from the fall. Other than feeling slightly winded and achy and covered in a few small scratches, he seemed to be relatively unharmed. He looked back up at the tree for a second time, eyes widening as he estimated the height he fell from. He was pretty sure that it wasn’t normal to fall from a height possibly around or over 15 feet and escape with little to no injuries.

“Guess I really am lucky…” Makoto remarked unsurely, stumbling to his feet. “Not gonna try it again, though.”

He checked over himself again and stretched a little to try and ease the aching pain. “I didn’t get high enough to see anything…” he complained to himself. “I don’t even know which way to go to find people… Maybe I should just pick a direction and—”

His train of thought was interrupted when the sound of something smashing through branches echoed through the forest again. He whirled around just in time to see a dark blue shape crash to the floor in front of him.

His first thought was, (“ _I feel your pain._ ”)

His second thought was where on earth the strangely-colored cat had come from. He hadn’t seen a hint of a cat within the branches when he was up in the tree, although he supposed it might have blended in somehow. He wasn’t sure how likely that was with the dark blue tabby fur or the bright pink scarf around its neck, tied to look like a big bow.

A cat with a bow. It seemed unlikely, but the appearance of a cat wearing a bow around its neck could mean that it belonged to someone and that someone could be nearby. He’d have to hope that the cat hadn’t wandered far from its owner and could still easily get back to them.

Makoto approached the cat and knelt down in front of it, moving slowly as the cat raised its head to blink at him with curious blue eyes. “Hey there, little guy,” he greeted the cat softly with a small smile.

The smile disappeared as he watched the cat climb to its two hind legs, wave one of its front paws and cheerfully meow, “Hi!” as it sent him a smile of its own. Or her own, considering the pitch of the voice coming from the cat.

Makoto froze in shock. He opened his mouth to question the strange little blue creature, but the words refused to come as the cat continued to smile at him, rocking back and forth on her paws as she swung her arms slightly.

“Oh, and, I’m a girl,” she corrected. “So I’d like it if you didn’t call me a guy again, yup yup.”

Makoto finally found his voice again and raised a finger to point at the cat and ask, “D-Did… Did you just _talk?”_

“Yup yup,” she nodded. She stared at his face before letting out a loud gasp of understanding. “Ooh! Sorry~! I keep forgetting that you people have never seen a talking cat before. But I’m not really the important thing here; you are!”

“I-I am?” Makoto repeated, still baffled at the cat’s sudden ability to talk.

She nodded in affirmation. “I was really worried, ya know! I was just flying nearby, and then all of a sudden I heard a crash and a thud and the tree was shaking and some birds were flying and I was really worried so—”

“Wait, wait, wait.” When the cat had finally stopped talking to listen to him, he sucked up his reluctance and questioned, “Did you just say you were _flying?”_

Her face lit up brightly in response. “Yup yup!” Without warning, two blobs of light flashed into existence behind her back. The shapes stretched out and the light faded to reveal a set of white, feathery wings. With a few flaps, the cat was airborne, flying a few feet off of the ground.

Makoto unabashedly stared for several long moments, before picking his jaw off of the ground and declaring, “Okay, that’s it. I clearly got a concussion from the fall because now I’m hallucinating.”

“It’s not very nice to call someone a hallucination,” the cat pointed out as she landed and the wings disappeared, a slightly grumpy look on her face. It was soon replaced with a bright smile, though. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay from your fall, yup yup. What’re you doing out here in the forest anyway, mister?”

“Uh, well…” Makoto paused as he thought about his reply. “I don’t really know, to be honest. I was with my friends in the city earlier, but then I just woke up here.”

“Ooh!” she suddenly cried out. “A city! Are you talking about Hargeon?”

“Hargeon?” he echoed. The name was unfamiliar to him, and he was pretty confident he knew all of the places around Hope’s Peak Academy. He had the feeling he was a little more lost than he’d originally thought.

“Well, I suppose it’s not technically a city ‘cause it’s called Hargeon Town,” she conceded. “But it’s large enough to be considered a city, I guess. Not sure whether Hargeon or that one to the north would be closer, though…”

“Anyway,” she continued. “Hargeon is a port town as well, in the south of Fiore, right next to the ocean and all. It’s like a ten-minute flight from here; it’s a lot quicker than walking. If you’re heading there, you should stick with me,” she told him.

Makoto tried to absorb all the key information and then realized something. “Hargeon… Fiore… I’ve never heard of those places before. Where exactly are we?”

His conversation partner blinked confusedly. “You don’t know where you are? But I just told you, you’re close to Hargeon, which is down south in the Kingdom of Fiore.”

“Kingdom? But…” he argued. “There aren’t really any kingdoms anymore on Earth…” ( _“At least, I don’t think so,”_ ) he thought to himself. _(“There’s a few I know, like Novoselic, but nothing called Fiore. Although, it_ has _been two years and the world_ did _end, so what do I know?”_ )

“Earth? What’s that? This is Earthland, silly,” she told him. “Are you sure you’re okay, mister? You’re acting funny.”

“E-Earthland…?” Makoto brought both of his hands up to his head and scrunched his eyes shut. Waking up in a random forest, talking to flying cats, places he’s never heard of… “I don’t know what’s going on…” he murmured to himself. He plopped himself down on the ground. “But I think I’m _really_ lost.”

“Maybe you traveled here from a different world?” she offered as she moved closer in front of him.

Makoto briefly stared at the tabby cat. “That came out of left field. Where the hell did you come up with that insane idea?”

“Well, it would explain why you’re not familiar with Earthland. And why you suddenly woke up in the middle of the forest,” she explained. Despite not wanting to admit it, the voice in his head was whispering that it did make some sense and she might be on the right track. “Though, I’m not sure what kind of powerful magic could do something like transport someone between worlds. It might have something to do with your magic.”

That part he wasn’t agreeing with. “My… My what?”

“Magic, silly.” The wings from earlier appeared again and she hovered right in front of his face. “That’s how I’m flying. It’s called Aera Magic. And I can sense the magic in you as well.”

“I think you got something wrong there…” Makoto hesitantly told her. “Because I definitely don’t have any magic. And anyway, magic isn’t real.”

“Then how am I flying?” she questioned. For a talking cat, she definitely had him stumped there for a suitable response. “Though, considering your reaction, your world probably didn’t have any magic in it. Geez, that’s boring!” she suddenly complained. “How’d you survive?”

“Look, just, can we focus here?” Makoto said in an attempt to get the cat’s wandering mind back on track.

“Yup yup,” she laughed sheepishly. “But yeah, like I said earlier, I’m pretty good at sensing magic and stuff. It’s a neat trick I picked up while traveling. Oh, since you’re not a native, I should probably explain how the magic works here.”

She cleared her throat dramatically and explained, “So not a lot of people in Earthland are actually wizards or mages; only about 10% apparently. Those people have a sort of… let’s call it a container, of magic power inside them. It’s self-replenishing, so if you use it all up then it’ll be back to full with time. People can use all kinds of magic, like my Aera Magic or Water Magic or Card Magic, but most wizards tend to specialize in one type. I can sense what type of magic the person last used and it’s pretty reliable, but it takes some time, so I can’t do it instantly.”

“Actually, all wizards have the ability to sense magic,” she added. “But it’s more that they sense how much magic is left in another wizard rather than the type.”

“Someone’s magic isn’t dependent on who they are?” Makoto clarified.

She hummed in thought. “It’s kinda like having a cup of water. The water is the magic, and you can use different kinds of straws to drink from it.”

Makoto scratched his head. “Uh, okay. I think I get it.” He tried to remember what they’d been talking about before. “You said that I can use magic, right? So does that mean I have to learn how to use a type of magic? Do I get to pick which kind?” he asked. Various scenarios were running through his head, some of which were pretty awesome to imagine.

“Weeeeeell…” she hummed as she crawled onto his lap and placed her paws on his chest. “I don’t think so, ‘cause I can sense a type of magic from you.”

“How?” he questioned. “I’ve never even used magic before.”

“I dunno,” she shrugged. “Wonder what it could be, though. Doesn’t feel like Aera Magic… It’s really confusing! It’s got a naturey, planty feel to it, but it doesn’t feel like your regular run-of-the-mill Earth Magic or Plant Magic. It’s got this funny feel to it, though, like that kind of feeling you get when you pick up a book and you can tell it’s really _really_ old. Hey, did I ever tell you about the time in the library when—”

“Focus, please,” Makoto sighed.

“Yup yup, my bad,” she grinned before returning to her task. “What was I saying? Yeah, it’s definitely got that old, ancienty feel to it. Maybe it’s a kind of Lost Magic…? Ahh!” she shouted. “I got it!”

She hopped off of his lap before turning to face him, a triumphant look on her kitty face and a paw pointed straight at him. “You’re an Earth Dragon Slayer!”

“…”

“…”

“I’m a what?”

“An Earth Dragon Slayer!”

“Saying it again isn’t going to clarify things for me,” Makoto pointed out in a frustrated tone. “So you’re saying that, along with magic, this world has _dragons_ in it as well?”

“Well, I think so.” Makoto’s confused expression prompted the cat to continue. “Well, I’ve only been alive six years so I can’t speak about Fiore’s history a lot, but a lot of people think that dragons are just myths and Dragon Slayer Magic is a Lost Magic—that means it’s not practiced anymore,” she explained. “I think there are a few rumors about some wizards who supposedly still use it, but I don’t know a lot more than that. Dragons aren’t things you see every day, though, to answer your question.”

Makoto nodded, taking in the information. “You’re only six years old, huh?” he remarked. When she nodded in confirmation, he chuckled lightly. “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me. Speaking of which, though, I don’t know your name yet.”

“Ahh… Well…” For the first time since he’d met her, the tabby cat looked uncomfortable and somewhat upset as she played with her bow. “A-Actually, I don’t really have a name…”

“You don’t?” Makoto asked. “Isn’t there someone taking care of you?”

She pushed her paws together. “You know how you freaked out ‘cause I could talk and fly and use magic and stuff? Well, other people did that too, and the few people who were okay with that kinda got annoyed at me quickly ‘cause I acted silly and spoke too much… From the people I met, I learned things like speech and basic knowledge and all that stuff, but I haven’t stayed with someone for that long, and people are always giving me different nicknames and stuff, so…”

“That’s not very fair of them.” The words left his mouth before he could realize, and so both of them were surprised to hear them. Makoto swallowed before continuing, “They shouldn’t have gotten annoyed just because that’s how you are. I mean, I don’t know the details, but you were just a young cat; that just doesn’t seem very fair to me.”

She stared at him for a moment before looking away bashfully, murmuring, “Thanks…” as her ears flattened against her head. Makoto had the feeling that she was probably blushing under all that fur. He thought hard about what he could say to make her feel better before asking, “Do you want me to give you a name?”

“Huh?” The cat’s blue gaze returned to him in surprise before she gave him a small smile. “I’d… I’d really like that, yup yup.”

“Okay then…” Makoto trailed off in thought. He wanted it to be a good name, one that the energetic tabby would like a lot. Now that he was focusing more on her appearance, the cat actually reminded him a lot of someone he knew, although their personalities were pretty different. The more he stared, the more he could see her in the cat.

“Maya,” he decided. “Is it all right if I call you Maya?”

The small smile stretched across her face until it transformed into a huge grin. “I love it!”

Makoto smiled as well. “And you can call me Makoto.”

He was slightly taken by surprise when she jumped into the air, spreading her Aera wings again. She did some aerial acrobatics from sheer happiness, shouting something incomprehensible before landing right on his head, flattening that one bit of hair that stubbornly stood up straight otherwise.

“You’re my new friend, Makoto!” the newly christened Maya declared. “You’re mine and you can’t get rid of me, yup yup!”

“I don’t think I want to get rid of you,” he admitted with a laugh as he picked Maya up from his head and held her in front of him, upside down briefly before he flipped her around the right way.

“So what now, Makoto?” Maya inquired with a twitch of her ears.

He paused. “Well, um…” A lot of info had been dumped onto him during the conversation and he felt like he had a better grasp on his situation, but there were a lot of things to be done. He had to find the others—if they were even _in_ Earthland with him—figure out how he got here to see if he could use the same way to get back…

There was too much, but he had to start with something.

“How about my magic?” he asked as it popped into his head. “How do I use it? I’ve got to know how to use it if I’m going to stay here for any amount of time, I guess.”

“Uhh…” Maya hesitated. “Well, I’m pretty sure Aera Magic and Dragon Slayer Magic are pretty different from each other, so I dunno!”

Makoto’s heart sank. “Not even a clue?”

“Maybe…?” she hummed in thought, bringing a slight bit of hope back to him. “Yup yup! I got it!” She clapped excitedly. “I remember hearing a rumor about a Dragon Slayer somewhere in Fiore, and they’ve got this magic thing called a Fire Dragon’s Roar! All he does is say that and then _woosh!_ Fire!”

Makoto thought for a moment. “So, if I’m supposedly an Earth Dragon Slayer, then I’ve just gotta say ‘Earth Dragon’ instead of ‘Fire Dragon’, right?”

“Huh?” The cat blinked as if the thought had never occurred to her. “Oh! That’s probably right! He just takes in a deep breath, like this—” She unnecessarily demonstrated by sucking her breath in. “And then breath out and then fire and awesome and burning and—!”

“All right, then,” Makoto said to interrupt her before she went off on a tangent. Maya pulled out her wings and hovered in the air as he faced away from his new cat friend and prepared himself mentally. ( _“A dragon’s roar… Can’t believe I’m actually about to try something like this. Here’s hoping that the ‘Earth’ part of the ‘Earth Dragon Slayer’ isn’t just a title and I’m not about to burn a forest down.”_ )

 _“Earth Dragon’s…”_ he started, taking in a breath at the same time. Unbelievably, in that short amount of time, a strange feeling washed over him. It was like he was being filled with power, just from breathing in deeply. His entire being felt full to the brim with energy that was just bursting to get out. ( _“Is this… my magic?”_ ) he thought as he finally finished his breath in.

 _“Roar!”_ As soon as he opened his mouth to shout the last word, an intricate, glowing, dark green circle appeared in front of him. A whirlwind of stones and earth within a green glow shot out, disappearing into the forest. Makoto’s eyes widened and he inadvertently stopped his attack short, gaping at the destruction left behind from the single attack.

Maya flapped by his head and she let out a whistle at the churned-up ground and plants and toppled over trees. “Think we can safely assume you’re a Dragon Slayer.”

Makoto was still in shock. This was what magic could do? This was what _he_ could do now? “D-Did I really just…?”

“Yup yup,” Maya affirmed, landing on his head again. “All you.”

Makoto’s knees suddenly gave in and he would have crumpled to the ground if not for Maya’s quick reaction and grabbing onto his hoodie to keep him standing while she flew. Carefully she lowered him to the ground so he could sit, breathing heavy with exhaustion.

“I guess it’s to be expected, silly,” she shrugged. “An attack that powerful, and since you’ve never used your magic before… It’s no surprise that you’ve used up most of your magic energy and are now exhausted. Don’t worry, though, it happens to everyone. In fact, there was this one time where I ran out of energy while I was flying really really high up and I crashed right to the floor—”

“Maya,” Makoto said pointedly.

“Oh yeah,” she laughed. “That was ten minutes ago. Hey!” she exclaimed, changing the subject pretty quickly. “Speaking of ten minutes, wanna go to Hargeon?”

“Hargeon?” A lightbulb lit in his head as he recognized the name from earlier. “Oh yeah, that port town that’s near here, right?”

“Yup yup!” the dark blue tabby nodded. “It’s better than staying in this crummy old forest, right? Right?”

Makoto thought about it for a moment before collapsing onto his back, arms spread out. “Just give me five minutes.”

* * *

 

Makoto and Maya spent close to an hour walking through the forest, despite Maya’s complaints that it would be faster to just fly there. Makoto refused to be flown there, regardless of whether or not Maya was strong enough to carry him. In the meantime, Maya tried to fill him in on common knowledge the best she could, like that there were two types of magic: Holder Magic and Caster Magic; Dragon Slayer Magic and Aera Magic were both examples of Caster Magic; Holder Magic needed magical items in order to work; the currency in Fiore was known as jewel; and anything else the cat could think of.

Eventually, they arrived in the port town of Hargeon. The town itself was laid out in an interesting way: since it was built on a hillside, several areas of the town were raised higher than the rest, giving a great view of the entire town from the highest level, which was where the duo entered from.

Makoto could definitely tell it was a port town as well since in the distance the open ocean spread out, and he could just make out the faint details of a port near the water’s edge, as well as a lighthouse further out at sea.

“Wow…” Makoto stared in awe at the landscape. There were thousands of houses below, people’s homes as well as shops and other buildings. “This place is really big… Where should we go first?”

Maya was about to answer him when she was cut off by the loud sound of a belly rumbling. She smirked as Makoto’s face turned red from embarrassment. “How about a restaurant, silly?”

“S-Sounds like a good idea,” Makoto agreed. Looking up at the sun which hung almost above them, one could most likely tell it was around early afternoon, which meant it was around lunchtime. “But we don’t really have any money on us to buy food with…”

“Ooh! Let’s go this way!” she cried, already flying off in the direction she’d decided. Makoto quickly caught up and, deciding that she didn’t want to fly anymore, Maya landed on his head, directing him on which way to go. With a little help from the locals, the duo was able to make their way around town in a reasonably fast manner.

They paused as they were walking down one of the cobblestone streets when they heard some sort of commotion to the left of them. They stared down the street to where there happened to be a large group of girls crowding around someone. From what little Makoto could see, it looked as though the guy in the middle had short purple hair, but that was really all he could tell from his distance and the crowd.

Maya covered her ears as the squealing of the girls reached a high pitch. “Yup yup, they’re definitely too loud.” Makoto was about to say something in agreement and move on, but someone else was pushing through the throng of girls yelling, “Igneel!” When the person finally got to the center of the crowd everyone fell silent, allowing Makoto to hear a flat, “Who the heck are you?”

“Who am I?!” the purple-haired guy exclaimed in shock, before resuming his cool attitude and replying, “I am Salamander! Surely you’ve heard of me before.”

It was a moment before the guy noticed that the newcomer had already left the crowd, walking dejectedly in the direction of Makoto and Maya, and the purple-haired guy cried out in shock again. It was then that Makoto was able to get a good look at the guy. He had spiky pink hair and a white scarf with a scale pattern wrapped around his neck. He wore a red jacket over what seemed to be another black jacket—apparently forgoing a shirt entirely—and loose white pants and a pair of sandals. A large backpack with a rolled up sleeping mat was slung over his shoulders. What also interested him was the light blue cat that was walking next to him, with some sort of green sack wrapped around its neck.

Makoto watched as some of the girls broke away from the crowd to attack the pink-haired guy, tackling him to the ground and yelling at him to apologize to the guy called Salamander. “What is it with you girls…?” the guy groaned under the assault.

“Now, now, that’s enough my lovelies, let him go,” Salamander said. “I’m sure the poor boy didn’t mean anything malicious by it.” The girls instantly returned to swooning over the guy, leaving the pink-haired guy to drag himself to his feet.

Maya poked Makoto’s forehead and he looked up at her as she pointed towards the crowd. “There’s a blonde girl there who doesn’t seem to be going gaga over Salamander.” Sure enough, when he scanned the crowd there was one girl who wasn’t fawning over the man. On the contrary, she fixed him with a steely glare as he began to scribble something onto a sheet of paper.

“Here’s my autograph, kid,” he said, holding it out for the guy. “Now you can brag to all your friends.”

“No thanks…” the guy replied deadpanned. All of the girls grew angry again and this time, they threw the guy down the alleyway. Unfortunately, he managed to land on Makoto, causing them both to crash into the trash bags lying on the side of the street.

“Guess it wasn’t him after all,” the light blue cat said to the guy.

“Definitely not him…” was the strained response as he got off of Makoto.

Maya walked over to Makoto, having jumped off of his head to avoid getting squashed. “Are you okay?”

“Define ‘okay’,” he replied dryly as he rubbed his sore back. He watched as Salamander disappeared into the sky, riding on what appeared to be purple flames. ( _“Is that really the kind of use people have for magic here?”_ )

The pink-haired guy blinked up at him too, but probably for a different reason. “Who the heck was that guy?”

“I don’t know, but he was a real creep,” a female voice responded, and the two guys and two cats glanced over to see the blonde that Maya had pointed out earlier. Part of her long blonde hair was tied up in a side ponytail with a blue ribbon, and she wore a white shirt with a blue cross on it. She also wore a blue skirt and a brown belt, with a ring of keys and a whip attached, as well as black knee-high boots and a black wristband. She smiled at them and said, “Thank you for your help.”

The pink-haired guy stared at her before replying, “You’re welcome, but I’m not sure what I did…”

“How about I treat you to a meal, hmm?” she offered. She looked over towards Makoto and Maya and smiled. “You two are invited, too.”

Makoto’s belly growled again and he scratched at it. “Thanks for the offer.”

“Food?” the guy seemed to perk up simply at the mention of it. “Hell yeah, I’m starving!”

“I know a place that’s not too far from here,” the blonde continued, gesturing at them to follow her.

It didn’t take long to arrive at the restaurant the blonde suggested. Once they arrived they quickly found a place to sit and ordered some food.

“My name’s Lucy. It’s nice to meet you!” the blonde greeted just before the guy started devouring everything in sight.

“Aye!” the light blue cat said as he sunk his teeth into his fish.

Makoto thought he’d made a wise decision by sitting next to the blonde as he wasn’t sure he’d fare too much better by sitting next to the guy during his attack on the food. The blue cat was on the table munching on a fish beside him while Maya was also sat on the table, on Makoto’s side and well out of the blast zone of flying food.

“Uh… Natsu and Happy, was it?” she said, unsure of how to react to the guy’s appetite. He nodded briefly before returning to the food, mumbling, “You’re so nice.”

“Thanks,” she replied, obviously nervous about the food flying towards her. “You can slow down; we’re not in a hurry. And food is kinda flying everywhere.”

Clearly she accepted the fact that they weren’t going to stop eating messily, and so she turned to the two others that she had invited out. “And you two are…?”

“I’m Makoto,” he introduced and then placed a hand on Maya’s head. “This is Maya. It’s nice to meet you, Lucy.” He couldn’t help but think triumphantly to himself, ( _“Finally! A normal introduction where I’m not being patted down to check if I can spar or offered alcoholic beverages while underage!”_ )

Maya tilted her head and asked, “Why were all those girls in the streets fawning over that guy?”

Lucy turned to the tabby and replied, “Oh, that Salamander was using a charm spell, from one of the rings that were on his finger, to hypnotize the girls into thinking they were in love with him against their own will. Those spells have been banned for years, so he must have gone through a lot of trouble to get it. I totally fell for it but snapped out of it since Natsu barged in like that. I really can’t thank you enough!”

“No problem,” the person in question mumbled before stuffing his face with numerous tomatoes.

“So if you offered lunch for Natsu because he broke that spell, why’d you offer me as well?” Makoto couldn’t help but ask.

“Ah, well,” she looked away briefly. “I felt bad for you because those girls threw Natsu onto you, despite you just being a bystander.”

“Oh, well, thanks,” he smiled.

Lucy then put on a somewhat prideful smile and said, “I may not look like it, but I’m actually a wizard myself.”

“Really?” Makoto said. He tried to imagine Lucy doing something similar to his own magic that he’d tried out in the forest. He immediately shoved away the mental image. He really hoped that other magic wasn’t as destructive as his. He’d have to question how Fiore was still standing.

“Is that so?” Natsu asked around his food, not pausing in the slightest.

“Yeah, but I haven’t joined a guild yet or anything,” she admitted.

Makoto blinked and before he realized what he was saying he asked, “What’s a guild?”

Lucy turned to stare at him in surprise and responded, “You don’t know what a guild is?”

Realizing his mistake, his brain scrambled for some kind of response and he eventually stammered, “I, um, I’m new around these parts…”

“Makoto doesn’t get out much,” Maya helpfully blurted out an excuse. Lucy still looked uncertain but decided to explain what guilds were to him. The entire idea behind them wasn’t too complicated. Apparently, guilds were organizations where people of similar occupations could gather together in order to work with each other. For wizards, it was a place to share information and find work, among other things. There were also other kinds of guilds for other occupations like merchants.

“Unfortunately, you aren’t considered a full-fledged wizard until you become a member of a guild,” she sighed. She recovered quickly, though.

“But the guild I want to get into is one of the most popular ones! It’s really hard to get into guilds like that. They’re always featured in the Sorcerer Weekly magazine! Ah, if I could actually convince them to let me in that guild I think I might just die!” Lucy fangirled as Makoto, Natsu, and the two cats exchanged glances. Realizing that she was acting over-the-top, she calmed herself down.

“Sorry, I guess I’m going a bit overboard with the guild stuff,” she laughed. She leaned forward as her attitude got a little bit more serious. “But I’m telling you, I’m definitely going to join that guild someday. And then I’m going to take on all sorts of exciting jobs and make tons of money!” Natsu made some sort of noise of acknowledgment.

“You talk a lot,” Happy stated.

“Yup yup,” Maya mumbled around one of the fish that she’d snatched from Happy’s plate.

“What about you, Makoto?” Lucy asked, changing the subject of the conversation. “What brings you to Hargeon?”

“Ah, well…” he stalled, struggling to think of an answer. Eventually, he just decided to tell parts of the truth and replied, “Just traveling around with Maya, I guess. I don’t really have anywhere to go, so traveling to look for a place sounded like a good idea.”

“How long have you two known each other?” she asked.

Maya pulled the fish out of her mouth long enough to raise a paw and answer, “Since this morning.”

“T-This morning?!” Lucy gaped. Happy looked surprised as well while Natsu momentarily stopped shoveling food to look over at them. “But you guys act like you’ve known each other your whole lives!”

“I’ve been told I get on really well with lots of people,” Makoto smiled embarrassedly, scratching at his cheek.

Lucy collected herself and asked, “What kind of places have you traveled to, then?”

“Hmm, a bit of here and there,” he answered evasively. He turned his attention to Natsu before she could inquire further. “And you, Natsu? You guys came here trying to find someone, didn’t you?”

“We’re looking for Igneel!” Happy exclaimed cheerfully.

Natsu finally paused in his eating to join in on the conversation. “We heard a rumor that a salamander was coming through this town, so we came here to see him. Turns out it was somebody else,” he grumbled as he stuffed a whole pizza in his mouth.

“Yeah, that guy didn’t look like a salamander at all,” Happy noted.

“No kidding,” Natsu said, folding his arms. “I bet that poser can’t even breathe fire like a real dragon.”

“I… don’t get it,” Lucy admitted, struggling to keep up with the conversation. “Your friend Igneel looks like a dragon?”

Natsu and Happy turned to look at her. “No, you’ve got it all wrong,” Natsu corrected. “He doesn’t _look_ like a dragon, he _is_ one.”

“W-What?!” Lucy shouted.

“Aye!” Happy backed him up. “Igneel is a real-life fire dragon!”

“Wha—Really?!” Makoto questioned. He bent over to Maya and whispered, “Is this that guy you mentioned to me earlier?”

Maya looked up from the fish she’d just shoved in her mouth and looked over to Natsu. After a few moments of deliberating, she looked back to Makoto and shrugged. “I dunno,” she mumbled.

“Why would a fire dragon show up in the middle of town?!” Lucy questioned, not hearing his conversation with his cat. Natsu and Happy opened their mouths as if to argue with her, but paused as if they realized that they couldn’t refute it. “It’s totally ridiculous!” she continued.

Supposedly having had enough of the two, Lucy placed down a few bills and stood up, saying, “Well, I should get going. Enjoy the rest of your lunch and maybe I’ll see you around.” She was just at the door when the waitress suddenly paused in surprise. Lucy turned around to see Natsu and Happy bowing to her on the floor with all the other restaurant-goers staring at them, Makoto and Maya included.

“Thank you for the food!” Natsu yelled.

“Thank you!” Happy added.

“Cut it out! You’re embarrassing me!” Lucy shouted at the two of them to get them to stop. “Look, it’s cool. You guys helped me out earlier, so let’s just call it even!”

Natsu turned to Happy and muttered, “I feel bad though, ‘cause we weren’t even trying to help her.”

“Aye,” he responded. “We owe her something.” Lucy facepalmed at the two.

“I know!” Natsu suddenly exclaimed as he pulled out Salamander’s autograph that he’d been forced to hold onto earlier. “Here, this is for you!”

“No way!” she rejected as she took the opportunity to get out of there immediately. Makoto sighed and sweatdropped at their antics as he finally got a chance to have at some of the food that Natsu had missed out on.

* * *

 

“The three of them were nice, weren’t they, Maya?” Makoto commented as the two wandered the streets at night. Time passed pretty quickly from lunch and he’d bid farewell to Natsu and Happy after they’d finished their meal. The duo then took the time to check out some of the attractions and stores around Hargeon but quickly realized that such an activity was pointless as neither of them had any money on them, and the money that Lucy placed on the table earlier had been used up to pay for the meal. Such was the reason why they were heading either towards the park for a place to nap or back to the forest where Makoto had woken up to begin with.

“Yup yup,” the cat agreed from her comfy spot in Makoto’s hood.

“A guild, huh?” Makoto said thoughtfully. “Maybe I should think about joining one, just to get some cash. Though, I probably need to get more used to using my magic, don’t you think?” Makoto smiled and internally winced at the memory of the damage he’d unwittingly caused in the forest.

“Aye!” Maya yelled.

“Don’t turn into Happy,” Makoto laughed, and then paused as he saw something pass overhead in the sky. Maya noticed as well and flew up to Makoto’s head to get a better look. “Speak of the devil… Was that Happy and Natsu?”

Maya pointed out towards the ocean, the direction the flying duo were heading in. “I think they’re going to the boat.”

Makoto squinted his eyes and spotted the large boat she was talking about. “You think that’s Salamander’s boat? I think he mentioned something about a party on his boat.”

“Why would he be heading there, though?” Maya asked.

A thought suddenly occurred to Makoto and he frowned, “You don’t think Lucy’s on that boat, do you?”

Maya let out an overly dramatic gasp. “You mean the really nice blonde from lunch time who bought us lunch and put up with Natsu’s bad table manners and weird behavior? We’ve gotta help them!” Maya extended her wings and, grasping onto the fabric of Makoto’s blazer, heaved him up into the air.

Makoto didn’t quite like the impulsive decision. “Whoa, wait, hey! Put me down, Maya!”

“Stop struggling, silly! You’ll make me drop you!” she retorted. “Besides, this is the only way we’ll catch up to them in time!”

Makoto conceded to the fact and tried his best to not squirm as Maya picked up speed, following behind Natsu and Happy as quickly as they could as they headed out to sea. With the head start they had, Natsu and Happy reached the boat first and headed up higher into the sky, but Makoto instructed Maya to fly closer to the sea as he spotted something being tossed from the boat. He managed to grab them before they plunged into the sea and recognized what he’d caught.

“These belong to Lucy!” he recalled as he clutched her keys in his hands. There were six keys attached to the keyring, with three of them being golden and three being silver. They all had designs of some sort at both ends of the key, and Makoto didn’t think they were ordinary keys in the way he was thinking.

Maya caught sight of them and confirmed it. “Those are gate keys!”

“Gate keys?” Makoto parroted.

“Yup yup, that must be Lucy’s magic!” she continued as they hovered above the waves. “Celestial Spirit Magic!”

Abruptly their conversation stopped as a loud crashing noise was heard from the boat and they watched as Happy came to hover around a newly formed hole in the roof of the ship. A few moments went by before Happy swooped down into the hole and then emerged, this time with his tail wrapped around Lucy’s waist, who had changed into a long red dress since the last time he saw her.

Maya was about to move up to join them, but Makoto shouted, “Wait!” as he watched streams of purple fire chase after the duo. Happy expertly dodged all of the fire bursts, managing to keep his grip on Lucy who kept screaming the entire way. Maya and Makoto flew over to join them, but quickly moved out of the way as the two came plummeting down in front of them, Happy’s wings having disappeared and Lucy yelling, “Stupid cat!”

When the two emerged from the water, Maya and Makoto came to hover near them. “Lucy! Happy!” Makoto called.

“Makoto!” Happy cheered.

“What are you two doing here?” Lucy questioned.

“We were passing through town when Natsu and Happy flew past us overhead, yup yup,” Maya responded.

“I think these are yours, Lucy,” Makoto said as he dug through his pockets to pull out the keyring that he’d caught earlier and tossed it to her.

“My gate keys!” she exclaimed happily as she recognized the object. Grasping one of the golden keys in her hand, she plunged it into the water as she yelled, “Here we go! _Open, Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!”_

A blue circle appeared, accompanied by the sound of a doorbell, as a lady with long blue hair and a blue mermaid’s tail appeared, holding some kind of urn in her hands.

“A mermaid?” Makoto questioned, taken completely by surprise by the kind of magic Lucy seemed to possess.

“A fish?” Happy cried hopefully as his stomach rumbled.

“Not for you!” Lucy yelled, splashing the cat with some water.

“That was awesome!” Maya cheered.

Lucy looked proud of herself. “That’s the power of a Celestial Wizard. Listen Aquarius,” she said, turning to the mermaid. “I want you to use your powers to push that ship back into the port.”

The only response she got was a disgruntled, “Tch!” as Aquarius turned her head away from the blonde.

“Wha—You’re supposed to come from the Spirit World to help, not give me attitude!” Lucy scolded.

“I wouldn’t make her any angrier, Lucy!” Happy warned.

“Yup yup…” Maya agreed worriedly.

“Let’s get something straight. The next time you so much as _think_ about dropping my key, you’re dead,” Aquarius threatened with a deadly calm voice.

“It won’t happen again!” Lucy, Happy and Maya all promised together in fear. Makoto sweatdropped about how easily they all gave in. Not that he was thinking about questioning the supposed spirit. He quite liked living.

Aquarius seemed to have the magic to control water, as when she swung her pot around, a giant wave formed behind the boat, pushing it towards the shore. Unfortunately, there were four little somethings between the wave and the port.

“HEY! Don’t wash me away with it!” Lucy complained as the tidal wave caught not only her and Happy but Makoto and Maya as well. After plummeting into the sea and attempting to find which way lead to air, Makoto finally felt something solid beneath him and coughed as the wave receded, dumping the four of them and the boat back onto the beach.

“Wait, that means you were aiming for me?!” When Makoto located Lucy and his head stopped spinning, she looked as though she were in some sort of argument with Aquarius, with Happy flailing around half buried in the sand nearby.

“Don’t call me for a while,” Aquarius told her as she turned away. “I’m going on a week-long vacation with my boyfriend. And he’s _hot.”_ Aquarius shimmered out of existence in a light with what appeared to be tiny stars.

“You don’t have to rub it in!” Lucy shouted as she disappeared.

“I got an idea!” Happy declared as he pulled himself from the sand. “If the fish lady gives you any more trouble, you can call me to take care of her!”

Lucy facepalmed. “I don’t think I can handle much more of this stupid cat!”

Makoto hurried over with Maya following on her stubby legs. “Lucy, are you all right? What happened on that ship anyway?”

She looked up. “Oh, Makoto! That Salamander creep and his goons were trying to kidnap all the girls on the ship and take us to Bosco! Which is the region to the east,” she explained the last bit somewhat hesitantly at Makoto’s confused look.

Lucy caught sight of something behind Makoto and got to her feet, rushing over to the ship and yelling, “Natsu!” The guy in question had just gotten up from the wreckage of the ship, standing on a higher platform overlooking the group of Salamander’s thugs. She and Makoto paused as they caught a glimpse of Natsu’s expression. It was serious; nothing like the guy they’d seen at lunch.

“So you claim to be a member of the Fairy Tail guild…” he said to Salamander.

“So what’s it to you?” Salamander questioned before commanding, “Go get him, men!”

Natsu calmly grasped for his red jacket as he said, “Let me get a closer look at your face.”

“Watch out!” Lucy called as a warning as two of the goons rushed towards him and the jacket fluttered in the breeze.

“Don’t worry about him,” Happy said unconcernedly. “I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but he’s a wizard, too.” Lucy looked absolutely shocked while Makoto already had an inkling of it beforehand.

Natsu easily took out the both of the guys, sending a glare towards Salamander. “My name is Natsu! I’m a Fairy Tail wizard! And I’ve never seen you before!”

If it was possible, Lucy looked even more surprised than before. “You’ve gotta be kidding me! _Natsu_ is a Fairy Tail wizard?!”

“Is there something surprising about him being a member of Fairy Tail?” Makoto questioned at her reaction.

She turned to him and explained, “Fairy Tail is the guild I’ve been wanting to join for a long time! Salamander said he was a part of Fairy Tail and he could get me in, and that’s why I went on the boat.”

“That mark on his arm!” one of the goons cried. Indeed, Makoto could see the faint shape of a tattoo or something on Natsu’s arm just below his shoulder, but the darkness and the distance made it difficult to discern what it looked like. “He’s the real deal, Bora!”

Salamander, or Bora, turned to him and shouted, “Don’t call me that, idiot!”

“I’ve heard of him!” Maya chirped from Makoto’s hood. “Bora the Prominence. I heard he was kicked out of the Titan Nose guild for bad behavior, yup yup.”

“Aye, that sounds about right,” Happy agreed with his arms folded.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, buddy, and I don’t care if you’re a good guy, bad guy, or what,” Natsu said as he slowly walked towards the group. “I’m not going to let you dirty the Fairy Tail guild’s name!”

Bora smirked. “Then what are you going to do about it? Stop me? _Prominence Typhoon!”_ A magic circle appeared in front of him and several streams of purple flame headed straight for Natsu. There was almost no time for him to possibly dodge before he was engulfed in flames, the fire turning a normal orange as it continued to burn.

“Natsu!” Lucy and Makoto both cried out, but Happy flew up in front of them, preventing them from moving forward. They both stared at the cat’s back in confusion before looking back up at the fire.

Eventually, they heard Natsu’s voice, and of all the things he was doing, he was _complaining_. “Eugh, this is so _gross!_ Are you sure that you’re really a Fire Wizard? Because these are the nastiest flames I’ve ever tasted.”

Makoto, Lucy, and Maya watched in shock as the large amount of flames began disappearing. Towards the end, it was clear to see that Natsu was actually _eating_ the flames and sucking them in. Bora and his group screamed in fright at the bizarre ability.

Natsu smirked and said, “Thanks for the grub, _poser.”_

“What’s going on?!”

“Who _is_ this kid?!”

Happy had landed back on the floor and smiled. “Fire Magic doesn’t work on Natsu.”

“I’ve never seen anything like that…” Lucy breathed.

“Now I’ve got a fire in my belly that’s just _raging_ to get out,” Natsu boasted as he punched his fists together enthusiastically. He sucked in a deep breath and then yelled, _“Fire Dragon’s Roar!”_ as a massive flamethrower emerged from his mouth to barbecue all of the thugs except Bora, who’d evaded it with his own magic.

Makoto’s eyes widened as his suspicions about the guy were confirmed. “It’s him…” he realized.

“It’s him! He’s him! Yup yup! It’s him!” Maya cried ecstatically as she clambered all over Makoto. “It’s him! With the breath and the flames and the _woosh!_ and the _ahhh!”_ She started acting out all the sound effects, waving her paws for the _woosh_ and falling onto her back for the _ahhh_.

“Bora! I’ve seen this guy before!” one of the downed thugs called. “With the pink hair and the scaly scarf… He’s gotta be the real one!”

Lucy gaped as she realized who Natsu was. “Salamander?!”

“Hope you guys are paying attention!” Natsu yelled as his fists were engulfed in flames. “‘Cause this is what a Fairy Tail wizard can do!” He proceeded to run towards Bora, who tried to fend him off, but Natsu easily avoided his attacked and slammed him towards the ground.

“So Natsu eats fire and then attacks with it?” Lucy tried to understand the concept as she watched the two duel. “H-How does he do it? Is it some kind of spell?”

“His brand of Fire Magic is one that allows his body to take on all the qualities of a dragon!” Happy explained, and Makoto listened in closely to see what he could possibly learn about his own magic. “It’s an ancient spell that’s rarely used anymore.”

“Really?” Makoto asked, completely interested in the explanation.

“This particular magic was originally used to deal with dragons,” the blue cat continued. “So it’s called Dragon Slayer Magic. Igneel was the one who taught it to him.”

Bora launched another fire attack towards Natsu, but he easily caught it and then ate it up as well. “Now that was a hefty meal! You’re not doing too bad,” Natsu admitted as he smirked. “But I’m about to cook you like a smoked fish!”

“You’re going to do WHAT to me?!” Bora screamed. Natsu got a running start, his fist becoming enveloped in flames once more, and he jumped up and nailed him with it, yelling, _“Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”_ The attack sent Bora flying straight through the town, only stopping when he collided with the bell in a tower, letting out a resounding gong.

“Don’t be silly, Natsu!” Happy pointed out as if reprimanding him. “Everyone knows you smoke food with smoke, not fire!”

“That… was awesome,” Makoto admitted, amazed from having witnessed the extent of a Dragon Slayer’s magical capability in combat.

“But he overdid it!” Lucy added as she looked at the burning ruins of the ship.

“Aye!”

“Oh, shut it, cat!”

The approaching sound of marching against the cobblestone was enough to draw Makoto and Lucy’s attention as they saw a massive amount of men in uniform heading over towards them. Lucy’s eyes widened as she recognized who they were and gasped, “The army?!” She screamed out in surprise as Natsu unexpectedly grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her with him, causing her to latch onto Makoto, bringing him along as well.

“Holy crap, we’ve gotta get out of here!” Natsu shouted as they ran.

“Where the heck are you taking me?!” Lucy yelled.

“And why am I coming along?!” Makoto added.

“Just come on!” Natsu insisted. “You said you wanted to join the Fairy Tail guild, didn’t cha? And you don’t have anywhere to go, right Makoto?” Makoto blinked at Natsu’s remembrance of the detail he’d only mentioned offhandedly.

Natsu grinned at the both of them as Happy and Maya flew in the air behind them. “So let’s go!”

A smile slowly spread across Lucy’s face and she yelled, “All right!”

“You can count me in!” Makoto agreed with a smile. Joining a guild would provide income, a chance to practice his magic, and he could search for the others while sticking with his new friends. They let go of each other’s wrists at the agreement and ran to flee from the army forces chasing them down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, guys! TriMaplenut here! So I was writing this on Fanfiction.net and I thought about putting it up here as well so I've finally got around to it. Yay! (so you can also read it on fanfiction.net if you prefer)
> 
> If this seems like a bit of an odd crossover, I admit it is, but mostly it was just a story I was writing for the heck of it, but then my friend convinced me to post it because it was getting super long so here it is.
> 
> I've already written + posted quite a few chapters on FF.net so those will be up here soon, but after that posting time will likely be a lot slower. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and stick around to see the rest!
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	2. Fire Dragon, Monkey, and Bull

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto and Maya arrive in Magnolia with the others and join Fairy Tail, only to immediately go on a rescue mission with Natsu, Lucy, and Happy to find the wizard Macao.

The rest of their time spent in Hargeon was hectic, to put it lightly. Lucy insisted on going back to her hotel room in order to pick up some of her belongings, and so the two Dragon Slayers found themselves keeping watch outside of a small building for about twenty minutes—only after losing the massive army of soldiers, of course. Even then, they had a few close calls, Happy and Maya’s quick distractions being the one thing keeping them from being discovered.

The fact that the army _also_ had the train station surrounded meant that the group had to sneak out of the town the way Makoto had come in just that morning. Natsu seemed unusually pleased with the entire situation, which Makoto could only chalk up to the fact that he probably had a few screws loose.

A few days and nights of walking and camping in forests later, they finally reached the large city of Magnolia, the location of the Fairy Tail guild hall. The minute Natsu and Happy entered the city, they grinned and exchanged a high-five, smiling and greeting practically everyone they came across. The locals waved back less enthusiastically but still politely, and it felt like such interactions were the norm to Makoto.

( _“Natsu does seem like one of those people who gets on with everyone,”_ ) he thought to himself, watching as Happy received a pat on the head from a woman they passed by. Seeing the gesture, Maya zoomed from Makoto’s head to the woman, practically begging to be pet as well. The tabby let out a loud purr as the woman complied, shouting a thank you and flying back to sit on Makoto’s head once again.

Eventually, Natsu led them to a huge two-story building and stopped in front of it. The building—labeled as the Fairy Tail guild hall by a large wooden sign hanging above the entranceway—was located right at the farthest end of town, right in front of the glittering lake that stretched beyond the horizon. Displayed proudly above the ‘Fairy Tail’ sign was a bright orange flag, the same design on it in white that Natsu had stamped on his shoulder and Happy on his back. Obviously, it was none other than the guild mark of Fairy Tail.

“Wowww…” Maya breathed in amazement. Lucy let out a laugh of delight. Even Makoto was left speechless at the sheer size of the place. The reality of the situation sunk in; after days of travel, they had finally made it.

Natsu, in an overdramatic fashion, kicked down the door and declared, “We made it back alive!” as Happy cried from behind him, “We’re home!”

If Makoto thought the outside was impressive, it didn’t begin to compare to the volume of the inside. The guild hall was easily as large as the gym from Hope’s Peak, with dozens upon dozens of tables and chairs and benches spread across the room. A large amount of the chairs were filled with people—wizards of Fairy Tail, specifically—chatting and drinking and generally having a good time. A bar was built into the back wall, with stools for people to sit on. There was also a second floor with stairs on either side of the bar leading up to a balcony, but it was empty and abandoned up there compared to the rest of the hall.  At Natsu’s arrival, plenty of people turned to greet him cheerfully.

One person in particular called out, “So I heard you went all out in Hargeon, Natsu! Had to go and start troub—”

He was cut off when Natsu launched himself at him and kicked him right in the face, causing him to crash into a table.

“Why did you do that?!” Lucy yelled at him in surprise. Makoto was still dumbstruck from the guild hall, too shocked from it to form any words, let alone question the Dragon Slayer’s actions.

“You lied about that Salamander!” Natsu raged. “I’m gonna kick your butt!”

The guy got up from the wreckage of wood and yelled, “Don’t get mad at me; I’m not the one to blame here! I just passed along a rumor I heard!”

“It was just a rumor?!”

“You wanna fight?!”

“Let’s go!”

In the span of twenty seconds, what had previously been a calm and casual environment quickly descended into an all-out chaotic brawl. Tables were tossed, chairs were sent flying, and somehow everyone in the guild hall managed to get dragged into participating.

“Now, now, Natsu,” Happy said, trying to placate his friend over the noise. “I think you need to calm do—AHHH!” The cat broke off yelling as someone crashed into him and sent him flying across the guild hall.

“Oh wow…” Lucy breathed happily, seemingly oblivious to the chaos around her. “I’m actually standing inside the Fairy Tail guild hall!”

“I’m beginning to think this is more of a fight club than a workplace…” Makoto admitted, still surprised by the sudden shift in mood and atmosphere.

“Yup yup!” Maya agreed from her perch on Makoto’s head.

One of the guys in the hall—with black hair and a chain necklace with a sword on it—turned around and said, “So Natsu finally made it back, huh?!” Lucy squeaked at his appearance and Makoto felt his face turn as red as a tomato.

He was pretty much naked except for his boxers.

Makoto shoved his hands up in front of Maya’s eyes in an attempt to protect her from the sight. The nude man marched up to the section of the brawl where Natsu was fighting and growled, “It’s time we settled things once and for all!”

A brunette who seemed to be wearing little more than the guy was sat at a nearby table. The drink swirled in her glass as she prompted, “Gray. Your clothes?”

“I don’t have time for that!” he yelled as he faced her. The woman turned her head away in response and sighed, “I don’t date the men here ‘cause they have no class.” Lucy and Makoto gaped as they watched her place down her glass and guzzle a whole barrel of what was probably some kind of alcohol.

“Come here and fight me, Natsu!” the naked guy, Gray, shouted at Natsu, who was still wrestling with the guy he’d attacked earlier.

“Not until you put some clothes on!” he shouted back.

“It’s only noon and you boys are whining like spoiled babies,” a man’s voice accused. Makoto turned to see a giant man with white hair towering over pretty much everyone else at the guild. “I’m a real man; want me to prove it to ya?!”

“I can’t believe he’s encouraging them…” Lucy sighed.

Makoto buried his face in his hands. “I can’t believe I agreed to come here.”

Natsu and Gray simultaneously turned to the massive man and punched him, lifting him into the air and sending him crashing down into some furniture halfway across the room. Lucy and Makoto were, once again, left to gape at the actions of the Fairy Tail wizards.

“Geez, it’s so noisy around here, huh?” They both turned to see an orange-haired man wearing sunglasses who wasn’t partaking in the guildwide brawl. Instead, he was lounging on a bench with two women cuddling with him.

“At least someone’s normal and not getting involved,” Lucy remarked.

All of a sudden, a stray glass flew through the air and struck the man on the forehead. He flinched from the unexpected occurrence and rubbed his forehead. “Are you all right?” one of the girls inquired worriedly.

“I’m going to go fight,” he professed as he stood up. “But only to protect you two.”

“Good luck, Loke!” the two girls wished as he leaped into the fray. Makoto scratched his head from the sidelines.

“This is… um…” He struggled to find the best word to describe everything he’d seen so far. “Chaotic…”

“Yup yup,” Maya agreed, having taken shelter in his hood. “But this place sure looks like fun, right? It’s like they’re having a massive party! Ooh, it’d be cool if it was like this every day, don’t ya think?”

Makoto sweatdropped at the comment. “Every day would be pushing it a little.”

“What the heck is wrong with these people?” Lucy questioned, looking at the brawling people around her. “There’s not one sane person in the whole place!”

“Hello!” a woman’s voice came from behind them. “Are you new here?” They turned to face the new person. She had long white hair, her fringe tied up in a small ponytail, and was wearing a red dress while balancing a few mugs on a platter.

“It’s Mirajane! _In the flesh!”_ Lucy freaked out. Makoto stared at the shrieking blonde, wondering whether or not to consider her sane as well. The woman, Mirajane, smiled warmly back at them.

Makoto cleared his throat, considering that Lucy was still fangirling over Mirajane, and pointed to the fights occurring throughout the room. “Shouldn’t we, you know, stop them or something?”

“Oh, it’s always like this around here,” Mirajane informed them. “I’d just leave them alone. Besides—”

She was cut off as the giant white-haired man from before stumbled backward in her general direction, collapsing on top of her.

“It’s kinda fun, don’t you think?” Mirajane struggled to say before she passed out. Lucy began freaking out over her and thus failed to notice Gray crash into her from behind. Makoto looked over and immediately moved to cover Maya’s eyes once he noticed that Natsu was spinning Gray’s boxers on his finger. He didn’t know why, but something about the little cat seemed too innocent to be seeing something like that. Maybe it was because she’d told him that she was only born six years ago.

“Give me back my underwear, jerk!” Gray screamed at Natsu, mostly unconcerned with the fact that his, um, man parts were out in the open for all to see.

Lucy covered her eyes and screamed as Gray walked up to her and said, “Excuse me, miss. May I please borrow your underwear?”

She reacted in an understandable manner as she grabbed the closest possible weapon, which happened to be a chair, and slammed him with it. “As if!”

Lucy yelped as Loke picked her up bridal style and said, “These guys are all so insensitive. A woman has needs—”

He was interrupted as the giant man punched him, causing him to drop Lucy on the hard wooden ground. “Real men speak with their fists, Loke!”

Natsu came out of nowhere and kicked him away easily. “I told you to butt out!”

“Aye…” Happy said weakly.

The woman at the bar sighed as she put down her mug of beer. “It’s so loud; so much for having a drink to relax.” She glared at everyone fighting in the hall. “That’s enough you guys. I suggest that you knock it off.” She took out a card—an action that Makoto would ordinarily find bizarre until a magic circle appeared in front of her.

Gray pounded his right fist into his open palm and a blue mist appeared around them as well as a blue magic circle. “Oh yeah? Says who?!”

The giant man simply yelled as he held his arm up to the roof, a magic circle passing over his right arm and turning it to stone.

“You guys can be such a nuisance,” Loke growled, playing with one of the rings on his fingers and proving that they weren’t just for show as another magic circle appeared.

Natsu’s hands became surrounded by flames again and he crouched in anticipation, a grin present on his face. “I’m ready for ya!”

“They always fight like this?” Lucy questioned as she held onto Happy as if he were some sort of shield. “Uh huh!” he nodded.

“You don’t seem worried…” Makoto noted as he looked uncomfortably between the fights. He would’ve liked to try and stop the fights; however, the past experience of being knocked out on the first day of Hope’s Peak had taught him well. Besides, he wasn’t sure how well he would stand up to everyone’s magic, now that they were being used, and he didn’t really want to find out.

A loud and heavy stomp caught their attention and they turned to see a massive form of a man standing behind them, yelling, “Would you fools stop bickering like children?!” Forget the white-haired giant; this guy was barely able to stand under the two-story tall roof! His massive height obscured most of his features in shadow, so Makoto couldn’t actually make out any details about him.

All Lucy seemed to be able to do in her state of shock was point out the obvious, “He’s huge!” With the appearance of the massive man, the entire guild hall fell into silence, freezing where they stood. A few were frozen in the process of throwing or punching another person, but nobody moved an inch.

“I’m sorry,” Mirajane spoke up, having apparently recovered from her previous ordeal. “I didn’t know you were still here, Master.”

“Did you say ‘Master’?!” Lucy, Makoto, and Maya all cried out in shock. Everyone else was silent and still.

Except for, of course, Natsu.

“Hahaha! Man, talk about a bunch of babies!” he taunted, seemingly ignorant to the colossal man. “Looks like I won this round, you ba—Blehhh!” He was interrupted as the massive easily squashed him beneath his foot. Lucy yelped.

The massive man turned towards the newcomers standing by Mirajane. “Looks like we’ve got some new recruits.”

“Yes sir!” Lucy answered immediately.

“Uh… Yeah…” Makoto answered with more uncertainty and hesitance, considering the kind of crowd he was apparently getting involved in. The master yelled abruptly as he let off lots of power, Makoto and Lucy frozen as they waited for what would happen next. What neither of them was expecting was for the shadowy form to shrink until he was barely over a meter tall, revealing a small old man wearing a white t-shirt with the Fairy Tail emblem on it, an orange jacket over it, orange pants, brown boots with pointy toes, and an odd orange-and-blue striped jester hat.

“Nice to meet ya!” he casually greeted, raising one hand. The other one held onto a thick looking roll of paper.

“He’s really small….” Makoto couldn’t help but blurt.

“This little guy is really in charge here?!” Lucy questioned.

Mirajane laughed, “Of course he is! Let me introduce the Fairy Tail guildmaster, Makarov!” Makarov turned and jumped, attempting to land on top of the second-floor railing, but only managing to clip his head on the edge. He grumbled and rubbed his head as he regained his footing and stood looking down at everyone in the hall.

“You’ve gone and done it again, you bunch of clots!” he scolded, holding up the sheet of papers. “Just take a look at all the paperwork the Magic Council has sent me this time! This is the biggest pile of complaints yet!”

Making a mental note to ask Maya later what the Magic Council was, Makoto nudged Lucy and whispered, “You could’ve mentioned that Fairy Tail had a track record of getting complaints.”

“I thought you knew already,” she whispered back. “Besides, this is the guild that _Natsu_ is part of, and you saw what he did back at Hargeon.”

Makoto whimpered. “I thought that was a one-time thing…”

“Have you lost your minds?!” Makarov continued angrily. “All you kids are good for is getting the higher-ups mad at me!” Most of the groups in the guild hall looked down ashamedly, and Makarov continued to shake with anger.

“However…”

With that one word, the entire mood of the lecture seemed to change. “I say to heck with the Magic Council!” Makarov announced as he lit the pile of papers on fire and tossed them to the side, where Natsu eagerly devoured the flames.

“Now listen up. Any power that surpasses reason still comes from reason, right? Magic isn’t some kind of miraculous power,” Makarov lectured. “It is a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside of us and the flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect synchronization.”

As Makarov spoke, Makoto felt like he understood more about how these wizards felt about their magic. “To perform magic, one must have a strong mind and the ability to focus. It should take over your being and come pouring out of your soul.”

Makarov held out his hand in front of him as he continued, nothing short of a divine intervention enough to stop his motivational speech. “If all we do is worry about following rules, then our magic will never progress. Don’t let those blowhards on the council scare you! Follow the path you believe in!” Lucy and Mirajane smiled at each other. Makoto reached up to pat Maya’s head, who had come to sit on his shoulder.

Makarov let out a large grin as he yelled, “‘Cause that’s what makes the Fairy Tail guild number one!” Everyone else started cheering as they held their hands up to the sky, backs of their hands facing forwards with their fingers and thumbs pointing out in an ‘L’ shape, following the example of Makarov, who also had his hand up.

Makoto grinned at the enthusiastic atmosphere and the excitement building up within him. “This is one heck of a first impression.”

* * *

 

Makoto watched as Mirajane—or Mira, as she’d insisted she’d be called—pressed the small stamp against his left arm, pulling away after a moment, leaving a dark green Fairy Tail mark in the middle of his upper arm. He beamed and looked happily at the mark before pulling on his hoodie again, turning to the barmaid and saying, “Thanks, Mira!”

“No problem!” she smiled sweetly. “Now you’re a full member of Fairy Tail!”

“Me next, me next!” Maya cried, scrambling up onto the bar and turning so that her back was facing Mira.

She laughed. “I guess you want it on your back like Happy?”

“Yup yup!” Maya nodded. “And make it… Hmm…” She glanced around for a moment, searching for inspiration, before her eyes landed on Makoto and looked him over for a few moments. She continued to stare at him, which began to unnerve him, until she broke out into a smile and declared, “Make it orange!”

“Done,” Mira nodded and pressed the stamp to her back. Only a moment later, the talking cat had an orange Fairy Tail emblem blazing on her back. Makoto thought that the color scheme of dark blue and pink sort of clashed with orange a bit, but it worked somehow. Besides, the combination was loud and exciting, just like the owner of said scheme.

“So why’d you pick orange?” Makoto asked.

Maya turned to smile at him and replied, “‘Cause, silly, orange is such an optimistic color!” Makoto opened his mouth to say something in response, but decided it was better not to question Maya’s random-but-accurate observation and simply smiled in response.

Lucy had been over by the request board with Natsu, showing off her brand new pink Fairy Tail emblem on her right hand. Now she was sat at the bar, ordering a drink from Mira as Natsu suddenly exclaimed from the board, “Whoa, 160,000 jewel to get rid of some thieves?!”

“Sounds good to me!” came Happy’s jovial response. Makoto picked a seat at the bar next to Lucy, Maya cheerfully jumping on the bar between them. He was about to ask Mira for a drink of his own when he overheard a question from beside him.

“How come my dad hasn’t come back yet?” a young boy asked Makarov, who was seated on top of the long bar counter. He chugged some beer before responding to the boy.

“You’re starting to work my nerves, Romeo,” he mumbled around his mug. “You’re a wizard’s son; have faith in your father and wait patiently for him.”

“But sir!” the child insisted. “He told me he’d be back in three days! And he’s been gone for over a week now!”

“If I remember correctly, he took the job on Mount Hakobe,” he recalled.

“That’s right, and it’s not far from here, so why won’t somebody go look for him?!” the boy persisted.

“Listen, kid, your old man’s a wizard!” Makarov raised his voice slightly. “And like every other wizard in this guild, he can take care of himself! Now go home, have some milk and cookies, and _wait!”_

Romeo’s fist tightened and he lashed out at Makarov, nearly knocking him off of the table. “I hate you all!” he cried as he ran from the guild, eyes most likely filled with tears.

“Poor kid,” Makoto sympathized.

“That’s gotta be tough…” Lucy added.

“I know it doesn’t sound like the Master doesn’t care,” Mira said from behind the bar. “But he really is worried.”

The end of her sentence was accompanied by the sound of wood being crushed. One of the other members, Nab, yelled, “What do you think you’re doing? You almost broke the board Natsu!”

Makoto and Lucy turned to see Natsu walking away from the request board with Happy. It was damaged with a fist-sized dent right in the middle.

Nab walked over to Makarov while Natsu exited the guild hall. “This doesn’t look good, Master. You know how he can be. I bet he’s going up to Mount Hakobe to save Macao.”

“When is that kid ever going to grow up?” the guy that had told Natsu about the Salamander rumor groaned.

“Who knows?” Nab sighed in response. “Going after Macao isn’t going to do anything except hurt his pride.”

Makarov finally opened his mouth and said, “Remember Nab, we can’t choose another’s path. Just leave him be.”

Makoto turned to Mira and asked, “Why did Natsu react like that?”

“Probably because he and Romeo have a lot in common,” was the reply. “I think he sees himself in Romeo. Just because we’re members of Fairy Tail, it doesn’t mean we don’t have our own personal issues. We’ve all had our fair share of suffering and loss.” Somehow, from her tone of voice, Makoto got the feeling that Mira was also speaking from personal experience.

( _“Well, I’ve certainly joined an interesting guild,”_ ) Makoto thought as he watched Mira return to work and the rest of the guild return to their everyday activities. ( _“And I think I fit the bill when it comes to ‘suffering and loss’, unfortunately.”_ ) He couldn’t help glancing over towards an ever-cheerful Maya, named in memory of a once-close friend of his. Seeing her continue to act happy brought a smile to his face.

Coming to a decision, he stood up and held Lucy’s shoulder, causing the blonde to turn towards him. “How about we give Natsu and Happy a hand?” Makoto suggested.

“Yup yup!” Maya cheered, all for the idea.

Lucy nodded as she stood up as well. “Sounds like fun!”

* * *

 

“Why’d you come with us…?”

“We thought maybe we could help.”

Lucy watched as Natsu laid sprawled out on one of the seats in the wagon, an agonized look on his face as sweat covered almost every inch of his body. “Wow, you really do have a serious case of motion sickness, don’t you? It’s just another reason to feel sorry for you…”

“What’s that supposed to mean…!” Natsu demanded.

“Ah! Nothing! Forget I said anything!”

Natsu let the issue go as the wagon passed over a bump in the road, making his motion sickness even worse. Lucy got swept up in a memory of what Mira had told her before they left.

_…_

_“Many years ago, Natsu’s father left and never came back.”_

_Lucy let out a quiet gasp as Mira continued to sort the bottles on the shelves. “Well, technically it wasn’t his real father, but the one who raised him,” she backtracked. “He was actually a dragon.”_

_“He was a WHAT?!” Lucy yelled in shock._

_Makoto scratched his cheek again with a small smile. “I can’t believe you forgot that Natsu already mentioned that a few days ago when we met.”_

_Mira nodded and continued her story. “When he was a little boy, a dragon found him wandering the forest. He took him in and taught him all about language, culture, and magic. But one day, the dragon disappeared and never returned.”_

_“So…” Lucy slowly remembered. “That dragon must’ve been Igneel!”_

_“That’s right,” Makoto recalled._

_“And Natsu lives for the day he’ll finally see Igneel again,” Mira added. “It’s kinda cute, don’t you think?”_

_…_

Lucy was brought back from her memories when the carriage abruptly came to a halt. “I guess we’re there,” she commented.

“All right!” Natsu cheered. “We’ve stopped moving!” He started dancing on the seat with Happy as the driver said, “I’m sorry, but this is as far as I can take you.”

Lucy blinked as she opened the door to the carriage, revealing the snowy, desolate landscape, with a fierce blizzard blowing through. “Where the heck are we, Natsu?” Lucy asked. Her voice was loud in order to be heard over the sound of the wind. “It’s a frozen wasteland!”

“Mount Hakobe…” Makoto finally spoke once the carriage left. “I suppose that’s what happens when you get so far up a mountain.”

“And what the heck was with you during that trip?” Lucy questioned. “Don’t tell me you’ve got motion sickness too!”

Makoto paled and pushed down at the queasy feeling that surfaced as soon as the vehicle was mentioned. “I don’t know. I don’t remember ever having motion sickness.”

( _“Please tell me it hasn’t come part of the Dragon Slayer package,”_ ) Makoto thought as he looked towards the scarfed boy, who looked immensely happier now that he was out of the carriage. ( _“I was quite happy living my life without the need of a constant barf bag.”_ )

“Are you okay now?” Maya inquired worriedly, as Makoto had been unable to respond in the cart. Makoto smiled and scratched behind her ear.

“Perfectly A-Okay,” he assured. The dark blue tabby instantly lit up with a brilliant smile, moving towards the opening in his hoodie before slipping inside, only for her head to reappear at the top of the zip. Makoto petted her head again and then folded his arms to keep her supported as well as keep himself warm.

They started moving up the mountain trail, his feet starting to go cold from the poor insulation his sneakers provided. The snow only worsened everything, wetting his socks and shoes and making his toes go numb. Regardless, he couldn’t be more thankful to have both his hoodie and his blazer, which was more than he could say for Lucy and Natsu. Natsu seemed unbothered by the cold, possibly as a side effect to his Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. Lucy, on the other hand…

“Why is it so cold?!” she complained loudly, already beginning to shiver. “I know we’re on a mountain but it’s summer right now! There shouldn’t be a blizzard like this anywhere!”

“That’s what you get for wearing light clothing,” Natsu retorted, seemingly unsympathetic to Lucy’s plight.

“Oh please, you’re not dressed for it!” she shot back, tugging at one of the things Natsu had in his bag. “Now hand over that blanket!”

“She just keeps on talking, huh?” Natsu asked aloud.

“Aye.”

“Yup yup!”

“Oh, I know!” Lucy’s face lit up with an idea as she grabbed one of the silver keys from her keyring. _“Open, Gate of the Clock Constellation! Horologium!”_

In a burst of magic and the accompanying sound of a doorbell that Makoto was beginning to get used to, a tall grandfather clock with an actual face instead of a clock face and two black arms appeared. Lucy quickly hopped inside, shutting the door behind her.

“A clock! Whoa!” Natsu gasped.

“So cool!” Happy gushed.

“Interesting,” Makoto nodded. He was beginning to realize that all of the spirits that Lucy was contracted to were related to the star constellations back in his world. Although he couldn’t quite recall a clock constellation…

Lucy said something from inside the clock, but since she was inside and Horologium was apparently soundproof, they couldn’t hear a word she said.

“We can’t hear you,” Natsu said, a little louder than normal.

“She says, “I’m staying in here and I’m not coming out.”“ Horologium told them.

“Then why’d you tag along?” he wondered.

““What kind of crazy job would force Macao to come to a place like this?” she inquires,” Horologium says for her, Lucy clearly avoiding the question.

“You should’ve asked that before you came with us,” Natsu said, evidently growing annoyed at her attitude and crossed his arms. “He went to slay a Vulcan; it’s a big monster.”

““I want to go back to the guild!” she proclaims,” Horologium said.

““Go ahead and be my guest!” I say back,” Natsu snarked.

“Aye!” The two carried on ahead and Makoto smiled at the antics. He turned to Lucy and said, “Natsu brought us here to Fairy Tail, so the least we can do is help him out, right?”

““I’m going to regret this, I know it,” she sighs,” Horologium spoke for her as he started walking after the two. Makoto shook his head and followed afterward.

“Macao!” Natsu called out into the blizzard. “Where are you?!”

“Macao!” Happy also yelled.

““Be quieter, you two! What if your yelling causes an avalanche?” she scolds,” Horologium said.

“What does a Vulcan look like, anyway?” Makoto wondered.

“Never seen one before?” Happy asked.

“I might’ve done, on my travels,” he lied. “I don’t know what they were called, though.”

“It’s a huuuuuge monster!” Happy cried, spreading his arms out as an example.

Makoto sighed. “I meant its appearance…” he specified. He got his answer pretty quickly as a large shadow descended from a cliff above them. It landed in front of them with enough force to send up a huge cloud of snow. When the snow settled, a white gorilla with a black face, hands, chest and legs roared at them.

“That’s a big Vulcan!” Happy yelled.

“It’s a giant monkey?!” Makoto shouted in surprise. The Vulcan sniffed the air before grinning and grabbing onto Horologium, staring at a creeped-out Lucy inside. “Me like human woman!” it said.

Natsu punched his fist into his palm. “So it can talk, huh?”

“I don’t think that’s the priority, Natsu,” Makoto sighed, pointing at how the big ape was currently kidnapping Horologium and Lucy.

““Don’t just stand there; hurry up and save me!” she yells furiously,” Horologium called as he was carried off by a snickering Vulcan.

“Noooo, we gotta get Lucy back!” Maya cried. She smacked Makoto on the chest from within his hoodie. “Mush, Makoto!”

Makoto hurried to follow after it, Natsu and Happy keeping pace with him. The monkey had vanished into the storm with its tracks quickly disappearing, but the footprints were deep and fresh enough that they could track it to the entrance of a cave. The time they took to traverse the icy cave was significantly shortened by Natsu’s dragon nose, and they reached the cavern where the monkey had taken Lucy. Horologium was nowhere in sight, leaving the blonde curled up on the icy floor with only her blanket as protection.

“Hey, ya big ape!” Natsu called out of nowhere, rushing ahead. “Where’s Macao?! Tell me!” Predictably, his foot slid out from under him and he ended up slipping and sliding across the ice floor right past the Vulcan. Makoto, despite his better footwear choice and foreknowledge, ended up falling on his back as well and slid into Natsu. He felt too dizzy to even process what Lucy was complaining about.

“Spill it, monkey!” Natsu demanded, even in his upside down position. “Where is my friend?!”

Makoto stood up and helped Natsu to his feet as Lucy rushed over to them and the Vulcan tilted its head. “You understand us, right?” Makoto asked it. At least, he hoped that the monkey could understand them. If it could talk—if very rudimentarily—then it made sense to assume that it could. “He’s a human man, so tell us if you know where he is!”

In response, the ape started pointing in a direction while flapping with his other hand. Natsu brightened at the reaction. “Hey, I think he’s going to show me!” Natsu hurried over to the hole in the wall, leading back out to the snowstorm, and started yelling for Macao.

( _“Wait a minute.”_ ) Makoto’s eyes widened and he hurriedly yelled, “Natsu, wait, I don’t think—” He was interrupted when the Vulcan shoved Natsu straight out of the hole and outside again. “…Never mind.”

“No like man! Me like woman!” the Vulcan cheered to itself. Makoto was suddenly extremely happy that the ape had overlooked him.

“He can’t survive out there!” Lucy cried as she hurried over to the hole to look for signs of Natsu.

“I think we’ve got bigger things to worry about,” Makoto said as he watched the Vulcan pound its fists together and kept chanting, “Woman, woman!” to itself. Lucy shed the blanket, throwing it to the side as she grabbed one of her gate keys.

“All right, you pervy monkey, you’re going down!” She held out the golden key she’d chosen and yelled, _“Open, Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!”_ What emerged from that particular gate was a bipedal black and white cow that carried a giant twin headed ax.

“Cow?” the Vulcan asked confusedly. Makoto couldn’t help but echo the sentiment. ( _“These spirits sure have strange appearances. I guess it’s just because it’s related to their constellation.”_ )

“I should warn you, monkey boy, Taurus is the most powerful spirit I have a contract with!” Lucy boasted.

Taurus turned to Lucy and said, “Wow, Miss Lucy, I almost forgot what a nice figure you have. Why don’t you come give me a smooooch?”

Makoto shifted his gaze between the spirit and the summoner as Lucy facepalmed. “Oh yeah; _he’s_ a big perv, too.”

“No touch my woman!” the Vulcan yelled.

That seemed to hit a nerve as Taurus turned to the monkey with a glare in his eyes. _“Your_ woman? Them’s fighting words, ya moooonkey!”

“Get him!” Lucy commanded, the bull removing the ax on his back to attack the monkey.

“He’s fast!” Makoto warned as the Vulcan quickly dodged his attack and moved in for a strike of its own on Taurus. Taurus brought his ax back to defend himself and—

“HIYAH!”

Promptly got kicked in the face by Natsu, who had made the assumption that he was a monster as well.

( _“Epic fail…”_ ) Makoto commented in his mind as Natsu looked between the cow and the monkey before setting his gaze on the blonde for answers.

“So hey, how come there are more monsters now than when I left?” he inquired.

“He’s a friend, dummy! One of my spirits!” Lucy yelled.

“That guy?” Natsu tilted his head as he pointed at the Vulcan, who looked just about as confused as he did.

“No, the bull! Hey, wait a minute, how’d you get back here?” she asked, switching gears pretty quickly.

He smirked in response. “Happy gave me a lift. Thanks, buddy!” he gave a thumbs-up to the flying cat.

“Aye!”

Lucy folded her arms and questioned, “So you can’t handle other modes of transportation, but flying with Happy is okay?”

“What kind of stupid question is that?” Natsu responded, looking absolutely offended by the question. “Happy isn’t a ‘mode of transportation’, he’s my friend! I mean, duh!”

“You’re right, it was _totally_ wrong of me to compare the two,” Lucy replied deadpanned.

Makoto looked down at the cat who was still huddled in his hoodie. “At least that means I’m okay flying with you,” he whispered.

Maya smiled. “Yup yup!”

“MY WOMAN!” the Vulcan screamed out of nowhere, moving to slam Natsu into the ground with his fist, to which the wizard easily stopped the attack with his forearm.

“You listen up! I consider everyone in the Fairy Tail guild my friend!” The Vulcan swung at him with its leg, sending Natsu back quite a distance.

“Whether it’s Gramps and Mira, or even those annoying jerks Gray and Elfman!” Natsu continued. The Vulcan galloped over towards him, and Natsu began to glow with the light of his flames. “Happy, Lucy, Makoto, and Maya, too. They’re all my friends!” Lucy, Makoto, and Maya froze at the proclamation, touched that they would be considered friends after a mere few days.

“Which is why…” Natsu growled, his fist lighting up with fire. “I’m not leaving without Macao!” The force of the punch sent the monkey back, as well as causing quite a few icicles to fall from the ceiling. The Vulcan took advantage of the terrain, swinging its arms to create a gust to lift the icicles and use them as an attack. Lucy and Makoto dodged out of the way while Natsu took the attack head on. When the dust cleared, the Vulcan was holding a very familiar piece of equipment.

Taurus’ ax.

“That’s not good,” Natsu summed up.

“He got the cow’s ax?” Makoto gasped.

Said cow was still out of it from Natsu’s previous attack. “Please be careful, Miss Lucy…”

The Vulcan charged, swinging at Natsu, and he ducked and dodged out of the way of the blade. Unfortunately, he slipped on the ice again and fell onto his back, creating an opening for his enemy. Natsu managed to recover in time, but only soon enough to catch the blade between his hands, just barely managing to keep the edge away from himself.

“Go back, Taurus!” Lucy pleaded to the unconscious cow, shaking him back and forth. “If you go back beyond the gate then your ax will disappear too!”

( _“That shaking isn’t going to help with anything…”_ ) Makoto glanced back over to where Natsu was struggling. Maybe if he had some better kind of footing, Natsu could push the ax away from him, but all he could manage was stopping it in its descent towards his body. ( _“And we’re running out of time! There’s gotta be something I can do…!”_ )

Maya flew out from his hoodie and hovered by him. “Makoto, what are you waiting for, an invitation? Help out!”

“What can I do, though…?!” Makoto grabbed his head in frustration. Nothing was coming to mind, damn it! He just needed to think… An idea; _anything_ he could build on!

“Silly Makoto!” Maya admonished him. “Use your magic!”

“My magic…?” Makoto froze. O-Oh yeah… He’d completely forgotten the fact that he could use magic powers now like the others. While it would definitely be useful right now, could he even reproduce what he’d done in the forest? Maybe it was a fluke or something, and he needed a lot more practice before he could pull it off again.

“There’s no time to second-guess yourself,” Maya argued. “Natsu needs you _now!”_

Makoto shook his head. Why was he hesitating? His friend needed him and he could provide help. “Right…” He gave a determined nod to his cat and yelled, “Natsu! Get ready to get out of the way!” Natsu glanced his way and gave a small nod before focusing again on keeping the ax away from him.

Makoto exhaled as he tried to prepare himself. “Now’s as good a time as any to try it again, I guess.” Praying that nothing went wrong, Makoto began the same way he did before, taking a deep breath. Again, he felt the new, yet familiar sensation of being filled with his magic to an almost overwhelming point. It kept building and building, until he released it all when it reached its peak.

 _“Earth Dragon’s Roar!”_ Luckily for him, the attack went as well as it had the first time; the dark green magic circle appeared with a dragon design in the middle, just like Natsu’s, and a glowing green beam of earth and rocks shot out of his mouth towards the Vulcan. It happened too fast for it to react, and so it received the full brunt of the attack. Natsu rolled away from the danger zone as soon as the weight was off of him.

Inevitably, Makoto ran out of both breath and magic simultaneously. He slumped forward a bit from exhaustion, resting his hands on his knees. He still wasn’t used to the fatigue that came with using his magic; it was better than the first time, so he felt he could get better with a bit of practice.

After spending a few moments to catch his breath, he looked up to see the Vulcan unconscious and under a small pile of icy rocks. Makoto let out a sigh of relief, sinking to the ground and letting the cool feeling of the ice soothe him, before being pounced on by an angry, curious Natsu.

“What the hell have you been hiding from me?!” he demanded.

“I-I… Uh…” Makoto stammered. He wasn’t prepared for any kind of interrogation at the moment!

Maya squeaked and tried to pull Natsu off of him with his scarf. “He wasn’t hiding anything!”

Lucy peeked over and interrupted, “I’m just as surprised as you are, Natsu, but don’t we need to solve the matter of the Vulcan and your friend?”

Natsu growled at the reminder and jabbed Makoto in the chest. “You’re not getting off the hook so easily.” Makoto nodded quickly to show he understood before Natsu climbed off to look at the Vulcan. “Geez, you really did a number on him, though,” Natsu laughed.

“Wasn’t he supposed to tell us where your friend is, though?” Lucy wondered.

Makoto rubbed his head sheepishly. “Whoops. I guess I was a little preoccupied with getting him off of Natsu.”

Maya landed on top of his head. “Well, looks like big Mister Ape Man isn’t going to be talking anytime soon. Are we gonna wait here for him to wake up? Or are we gonna take him home with us? Will we have to build some kind of train thing out of logs—”

She was interrupted as a bright golden glow began to emit from the Vulcan’s body and everyone shielded their eyes. When the glow died down and they looked at what happened, no one was more surprised than Natsu.

“Macao?!” he yelled. Somehow, the ape had changed into the very person they had climbed the mountain to go looking for.

 _“That_ was Macao?” Makoto asked, now feeling somewhat guilty for attacking someone from Fairy Tail.

“You’re telling me that big perverted monkey was your friend the whole time?!” Lucy yelled.

“He must’ve been taken over by that Vulcan,” Happy guessed.

There was another phrase casually thrown around that he didn’t recognize. “Taken over?” Makoto murmured to Maya. She nodded and explained quickly, “Vulcans are bodysnatchers; they use possession spells on others and steal their bodies so that they can survive.”

Natsu grabbed the blanket that Lucy had dumped to the side earlier and, with some help from the blonde, spread it out so that they could rest Macao on it and bandage him up.

“He looks pretty banged up,” Makoto noted as Lucy finished wrapping the last of his wounds.

“It probably took a while before that Vulcan could get to him…” Happy commented.

“Macao, don’t you die on me!” Natsu shouted at him. “Romeo’s waiting for you! Open your eyes!”

They waited in tense silence, hoping for any kind of reaction from the man. As if responding to Natsu’s words, Macao’s right eye slowly cracked open, the other one too swollen to open up completely. “Natsu…” he muttered. Everyone present sighed in relief.

“I’m so pathetic,” the old man continued. “I defeated nineteen of those brutes, but the twentieth… That’s the one that got me. I’m so angry with myself; I’m embarrassed to go face Romeo.”

“Don’t be like that! Come on, man, you beat nineteen monsters!” Natsu encouraged. He held out a hand to help Macao sit up.

( _“Nineteen giant gorillas all by himself?! Geez, Fairy Tail’s wizards are in a whole other league, aren’t they?”_ ) Makoto laughed mentally to himself. ( _“I wonder if ordinary Makoto Naegi can keep up with them… Probably not.”_ ) A small grin appeared on his face. His hand wrapped around his arm where the Fairy Tail emblem was hidden under his hoodie. ( _“Although, maybe Makoto the Earth Dragon Slayer can. After all, what am I if not optimistic?”_ )

“Now let’s go home,” Natsu suggested as he gave Macao a wide, toothy grin. “Your little boy’s been waiting for ya.”

* * *

 

Unfortunately, since the carriage had left and they couldn’t give the driver an approximate time for when they’d be finished, the group of wizards was left to get down the mountain on their own power. Thankfully though, the worst of the storm had blown over, leaving a gentle snowfall behind and making their journey immensely easier.

Makoto and Natsu helped support Macao on their way back down the mountain. Lucy was on guard for any other unexpected attacks with Happy and Maya keeping an eye from the sky. Faster than they expected, they made it to the bottom of the mountain and reached Magnolia by sundown. Natsu led the way through the cobbled streets, apparently knowing exactly where Romeo would be moping.

“Hey, Romeo!” Natsu’s guess was spot on, as they’d spotted the small six-year-old sitting alone on the stone steps somewhere in Magnolia. Romeo lifted his head at the call and his eyes instantly filled with tears at the sight of his father.

“DAAAD!” he screamed, leaping for the older man and causing him to topple without the support of Natsu or Makoto, who’d moved to the side to allow for a family reunion. “You came back! I’m so sorry, Dad!”

“No, I’m sorry for making you worry,” Macao muttered.

“I can handle it! Because I’m a wizard’s son!”

“Next time those bullies pick on you, here’s what I want you to say: “Can your old man defeat nineteen monsters all by himself? ‘Cause mine can.””

Natsu gave a warm smile as he signaled for his friends to leave the father and son to their reunion. As they were a few meters down the road, Romeo shouted, “Natsu! Happy! Thank for your help!”

“No prob, kiddo!”

“Aye!”

“Lucy! Makoto! Maya!” Romeo continued to scream. “Thanks for helping them bring my daddy back to me!”

They all turned back to give Romeo a big wave before continuing on their way to the guild hall. Makoto stretched slightly and placed his arms behind his head, mindful of Maya’s hanging legs and tail. Seeing Romeo reunite with his dad was heartwarming, but it reminded him of his own parents and sister. Even after the whole killing game, he never found out for certain what the fate of his family was.

The memory of the video motive sent a fresh wave of anxiety surging through him. He quashed it instantly. There was no point in dwelling on the matter, especially when he was in a completely different world. Worrying about it would get him nowhere. The best course of action was to do what he could do, which was to find the others first and _then_ figure out how to get back.

“Hey! You still have to tell me what your magic was back in the ice cave!”

“I’ll tell you some other time; it’s too late now.”

“That’s crap! Come on, tell me!”

“I’ll tell you later at the guild hall, okay?”

Or maybe the first thing he had to do was deal with an inquisitive Dragon Slayer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the second chapter much earlier than I thought I'd put it up, just because it irritated me that it said 0/? for the chapters XD The rest will probably be a few days to a week apart maybe, at least until I catch up with how many chapters I've written on FF.net
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	3. Infiltrate the Everlue Mansion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto and Maya join forces with the others to take on their first job as Fairy Tail wizards.

It took way too long to arrive at the guild hall, in Makoto’s opinion. As soon as they walked through the door, he all but abandoned his friends so he could take shelter in the bathroom from Natsu’s pestering. The entire walk back, the scarfed wizard kept asking and asking about Makoto’s magic and where he learned it and where his dragon was… All Makoto could do was continuously put off his answer. How could he answer, anyway? He just woke up a few days ago and could use his magic; he’d never even seen a dragon.

Inevitably, he had to go out and brave the room beyond the toilets. He poked his head out, debating whether or not he could sneak out of the hall without Natsu noticing, maybe grabbing Maya as a bonus. His plan was ruined pretty much instantly when he realized that his friends were sat at one of the tables nearest to the bathroom. Letting out a defeated sigh, Makoto walked up to them, weaving his way between a few other tables as he went.

Natsu’s attention immediately shifted to him. He slammed his hands on the table, startling Lucy and Maya. “Now explain your magic to me!”

Makoto had hoped to think of some kind of excuse while he was in the bathroom, but nothing had come to mind then and nothing came to mind now. Pushed into a corner, and recalling who he’d passed on the way back, Makoto swallowed his guilt and told him, “I think I heard Gray call you a flame-headed idiot as I passed by.”

 _“What?!”_ he snarled. His fists blazing and Happy flying after him, he marched over to where the underwear-clad wizard was sitting, shouting as he went, “That’s it, stripper, you’re dead!”

Makoto let out a heavy sigh as he sat down at the table, ignoring the questioning looks that Lucy and Maya gave him as he ran his fingers through his spiky hair. “Do you have a place to stay yet, Lucy?” Makoto asked, peeking through the gaps in his fingers to look at the blonde.

“Well, Mira recommended some nearby places to me before we left to Mount Hakobe…” she told him, but trailed off as he suddenly slammed his fists on the table.

“You gotta let me room with you!” he pleaded, before realizing what he said and flushed. “S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so forward…”

“Er… What’s this about anyway?” she inquired.

“I can’t stay in a hotel or rent my own place since I don’t have a penny to my name, so I kinda need to see if I can stay with someone else for a while,” Makoto explained. “So, please? I swear, as soon as I have the money, I’ll pay half the rent and all I’ve owed, and I’ll buy my own things and respect your privacy; I’ll even sleep on the couch if there isn’t space for another bed!” Makoto’s head slammed down on the table, his arms the only thing protecting it from a hard impact. “Just please don’t leave me to crash with Natsu…”

Lucy let out a giggle. “That’s what it really boils down to, isn’t it?”

“If I spend even a night with him, all he’ll do is hound me about my magic!” he pointed out. “Please? You’d be doing me a huge favor…”

Lucy leaned back in her seat, staring at Makoto as well as glancing at the curious Maya, who would no doubt be joining him. Eventually, she gave a smile to the brown-haired boy. “I don’t see a problem with it, and I think the place is big enough for us to share it.”

He instantly brightened up at the news. “Really? Oh, thanks so much! I promise it’ll only be a temporary thing, and we’ll try not to be a bother. Now, we should go rent that place out,” Makoto said, standing up and grabbing Lucy’s wrist to drag her along, picking up Maya with his other hand and placing her in his hood. “The sooner we get moving before Natsu finishes his brawl and realizes we’re gone, the better.”

Lucy shook her head amusedly as they quickly snuck over to the bar where she asked Mira if they could sort out arrangements with the landlady to sleep in the apartment by tonight. Mira handed over the key to the flat in exchange for a decent sum of money that Lucy had on her, explaining that the deal was she’d pay the rest of the starting price along with her usual monthly rent of 70,000 jewel. With Makoto keeping an eye on Natsu and Gray’s fight, the trio made their way out of the guild and out into the streets where the house was located.

Strawberry Street, where the apartment was located, was only about a ten-minute walk from the guild hall, and sorting things out with the landlady thankfully didn’t take too much time. Before they knew it, the trio were happy renters of a decently sized apartment.

There were already bits of furniture laid out in several of the rooms—of which there was the main room, which doubled as the bedroom, the bathroom, and the kitchen. There was a bed already set up in the bedroom, along with some shelves and cupboards for clothes and knickknacks, and the landlady was nice enough to lend Makoto a mattress and a blanket so he had some sort of bed. The two occupants agreed that they could just push the mattress under the bed to allow for floor space.

After unpacking all of Lucy’s things from her suitcase, changing into their respective nightwear, and laying down some ground rules to establish some privacy between the two, they all settled down for an early night. Lucy quickly slipped into her fluffy bed and Makoto settled onto his mattress, with Maya cuddling up as close as she physically could. Despite the long and tiring day he’d had, Makoto found himself staring up at the ceiling for the better part of an hour before sleep finally claimed him.

His night was anything but peaceful. Every time he drifted off, all he seemed to dream about was the horrors he’d been forced to endure within Hope’s Peak. The stress, the trauma, the doubt, the fear… He jerked awake every fifteen minutes—at least, it felt like that often. He spent more time staring at the darkened walls then asleep. He could only be thankful that his constant awakenings weren’t bothering either of his roommates. A few hours later, exhaustion ultimately won over and he fell into a dreamless sleep.

Makoto groaned when the sunlight brightened the room and forced him awake. It only felt like ten minutes ago that he finally got some decent sleep. Alas, the curtains didn’t do enough to dim the room, and so he pulled himself to his feet with a long yawn.

He noticed that the bathroom door was closed and the sound of the shower going filled the apartment. He assumed that Lucy had taken Maya in with her since the cat was missing from his bed as well as the room. He shoved his mattress and blanket under Lucy’s bed before moving to the kitchen to scrounge together breakfast from their limited supplies. Five minutes into his meal and Natsu and Happy appeared in the kitchen doorway, dressed in their usual attire, while he was still in his sleepwear which consisted of his t-shirt and boxers.

“What are you doing here?!” they both questioned each other.

“I’m here to check out Lucy’s new pad,” Natsu replied. “Mira told me about it.”

“I guess she didn’t mention that I’m Lucy’s temporary roommate…” Makoto shrugged. “…Why’d you break into her flat, anyway?”

“I didn’t _break in_ , the window was open,” Natsu insisted.

Makoto sighed, “Give me a moment then. And don’t touch the food!” he warned as he saw the wizard and cat sneaking towards his half-finished breakfast. Approaching the wooden door that led to the bathroom, Makoto gave a swift knock. “Lucy? It’s me.”

“Don’t come in!” she screamed from behind the door.

“I wasn’t going to!” he corrected. “Anyway, I was going to tell you that Natsu and Happy are here.”

“Don’t let them in!”

“They let themselves in,” he reported wearily.

“Ugh, those numbskulls…” He barely heard the insult over the sounds of the shower. “Look, I’ll be out in five minutes; try to keep those two from wrecking the place.”

“All right…”

* * *

 

“Look, we just moved in and we’re not ready for guests, so why don’t you two drink your tea, say thanks and get out. You got that?” Lucy instructed. As soon as she got out of the shower, she shooed the boys from the bedroom to allow herself to change. Makoto managed to make a few cups of tea for the humans, and they all sat around the small table in the middle of the bedroom, Happy standing on the table and Maya sitting comfortably in Makoto’s lap.

“Talk about cold-hearted…” Natsu grumbled as he sipped his tea.

“Ice cold,” Happy agreed.

“Lucy does have a point, though,” Makoto argued. “You can’t just barge into somebody’s apartment and expect royal treatment.”

He regretted opening his mouth as Natsu’s attention shifted to him pretty quickly. “Can I get that explanation ‘bout your magic now?”

What kind of explanation did he even want? He did Dragon Slayer Magic, what more was there to talk about? Makoto opened his mouth to ask just that, but Maya answered for him, “Makoto’s an Earth Dragon Slayer, so he can use Dragon Slayer Magic just like you, like his Earth Dragon’s Roar. He doesn’t really want to talk about his dragon, though; it was a difficult time for him.”

Makoto—surprised that the cat had jumped in like that with a simple yet effective answer—gave her a scratch behind the ears. Natsu looked at Makoto with something akin to understanding. “Did your dragon leave you, too?”

Makoto took the brush from Maya’s tail as a signal and nodded. “Something like that.”

Having enough tact to sense that the conversation needed a subject change, Natsu turned to Lucy and asked to see some of her ‘weird little key guys’. Despite needing to correct him and say that they were Celestial Spirits, Lucy was pretty eager to answer whatever questions they had about her magic.

“I know about Aquarius, Horologium, and Taurus,” Makoto began. “But what other spirits do you have?”

“Including those three, I’ve got six spirits contracted to me,” she responded, holding up her keyring as proof. “The silver ones are regular ones you can buy at the store. There’s Horologium the Clock, Crux the Southern Cross, and Lyra the Harp.”

She held up the three golden keys she had next. “The golden Zodiac keys are super rare, though. Along with Taurus and Aquarius, there’s also Cancer the Giant Crab.”

“A giant crab?!”

“Giant crab legs!” Natsu and Happy grew excited at the mere mention of food. Lucy sighed and shook her head in exasperation. Makoto and Maya shared an amused smile. Out of nowhere, she pulled out a seventh silver key and told them that she needed to make a contract with the spirit of that key, and wondered if they wanted to see the contract being made.

“Sounds interesting,” Makoto nodded.

“Yup yup!”

“I hope it’s not some weird blood pact…” Happy murmured.

“I can hear you, you know.”

Lucy asked them all to stand back a bit as she prepared to summon the spirit of the key. “I call upon thee, in the world of the Celestial Spirits. I beckon you to my side at once. Pass through the gate!” A light began to glow from underneath her as her magic began doing its thing.

 _“Open, Gate of the Little Dog! Nikola!”_ When the spirit finally formed, it was a small white creature, no bigger than Happy or Maya, with paws and a pointy orange nose, vaguely reminding Makoto of a snowman. He had to admit, it was pretty cute; Aoi would probably hug it. A lot.

Unsurprisingly, Lucy instantly fell in love with the spirit and started cuddling it, explaining at the same time that wizards often kept them as pets since it didn’t take a lot of magic to summon them. She then brought out a notepad and began asking what days the spirit was okay with being summoned on, and apparently that was it.

“That was less complicated than I thought it would be,” Makoto admitted. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but working out a schedule wasn’t quite what he had in mind.

“It may seem a bit silly, but a contract relies on the promise between the spirit and the wizard,” Lucy elaborated. “That’s why I make a point to always keep my promises. And now I just need to think of a name for him.”

“Isn’t it Nikola?” Happy pointed out.

Maya tilted her head. “That’s just the species, isn’t it?”

Lucy suddenly let out a gasp and clapped her hands together. “I know! Come here, Plue!” Makoto smiled at the name. To him, it sounded a little bizarre, but Plue was Lucy’s spirit so she was welcome to name him whatever she wanted. He decided to take the opportunity to clear the table of the teacups they were finished with and put them in the sink to wash for later.

When he returned, Natsu announced out of the blue, “All right, that settles it! You three will be part of our team!”

“Go team!” Happy cheered.

“Did I miss something here?” Makoto asked, coming to sit back down on his chair.

“Even though everyone in the guild is allied to one another, some people form teams with others they work well with so they can complete more difficult jobs!” Happy explained to him.

“Oh, I get it,” Makoto said, nodding in understanding.

“Yup yup, that sounds like a great idea!” Maya agreed.

“Let’s do it!” Lucy decided.

Natsu grinned, and Makoto couldn’t help but feel slightly unnerved by it. “Great, ‘cause I’ve got our first job together right here!” Lucy snatched it from his hands and Makoto peered over her shoulder to read it.

The important bits of information seemed to be that the job was based in Shirotsume Town and they would need to take some guy’s book and they’d be paid 200,000 jewel. From seeing the monthly rent for Lucy’s apartment, Makoto guessed that jewel and yen would have an approximately similar value, so 200,000 jewel seemed like a lot. He paused as he read another bit of the paper and nudged Lucy, pointing to it with his finger.

““Please note: Everlue is a dirty old man who’s currently looking for maids with blonde hair”?!” she read aloud, tone growing disbelieving as she finished.

“We know a blonde girl, don’t we?” Natsu ‘noted’.

Happy nodded sagely. “And I bet we can find her a maid’s uniform!”

Makoto frowned, unhappy with the way the two were treating Lucy, who had gone to sulk in the corner at the realization she’d been tricked. “Come on, guys. That’s not fair to her.”

Natsu shrugged, a cheeky grin forming on his face. “It’s a good thing Celestial Wizards don’t go back on their word, ‘cause now we’re stuck with each other!”

* * *

 

“Are you enjoying your carriage ride today, master? Is there anything I can get for you?” Lucy asked in a taunting manner, enjoying her sweet vengeance on her scarfed teammate.

“I think I could use a barf bag…” Natsu groaned.

“Make that two…” Makoto mumbled from his position of hanging out of the window. Maya rubbed his back in an attempt to make him feel better. Happy started whining about being the ‘master’ in the roleplay taking place and insisted that his demands were met.

“Oh, Natsu?”

“Yeah…?”

“I was just wondering why you picked me to join your team,” Lucy questioned.

“‘Cause you seem like a nice person…” he responded, before adding on, “Even if you are weird…”

“Why’d you pick me, then…?” Makoto asked, having poked his head back in briefly to join in on the conversation.

“‘Cause you’re a Dragon Slayer, obviously…!” Natsu replied, struggling to fight off his motion sickness. “Plus, you seem okay, too…”

“Oh, oka—Hmmphlf!” Makoto was cut off as the wagon went over another bump, disrupting his stomach and almost causing him to hurl reflexively.

“Anyway, I’m totally stoked about my first job! I know I’m gonna rock it!” she declared enthusiastically.

“Really? I thought you were upset about it,” Happy pointed out.

“I was mad at first, but if this perv likes pretty girls, then I’m perfect for the job!” she replied.

“Nooo…” Maya moaned as she flew over, abandoning her sick partner for the moment. “But you can’t be a maid, Lucy! ‘Cause you’re not a maid, so if you became a maid then you wouldn’t be Lucy anymore, and I’d be sad if you went away!” Tears started gathering in her blue eyes.

“Eh heh… I’m not going anywhere, Maya…” Lucy sweatdropped.

“Speaking of going places, are we there yet…?” Natsu moaned. He couldn’t manage to stay upright anymore, so he was spread out on the bench again, leaving just enough space for Makoto to kneel in front of the window.

“Another twenty minutes to go, Natsu!” Maya chirped.

Makoto leaned out of the window even further. “Somebody, kill me now…”

Lucy glanced between the two sickly guys. “Huh, I guess motion sickness is something that comes with being a Dragon Slayer.”

Makoto groaned as his stomach continued to gurgle. He was starting to notice some of the other effects of his Dragon Slayer Magic, as Maya had pointed out to him: his sense of smell had increased to the point where he was starting to pick up on individual people’s scents, and his eyesight and hearing enhanced similarly. He’d also seen in the mirror back at the apartment that his canines were becoming sharper, like Natsu’s. Those effects were strange yet interesting, but he’d really rather just get rid of the motion sickness. It was probably because of those enhanced senses that he reacted to vehicles like this, although Natsu took it to a whole new level with reacting to the mere thought of them. Makoto hoped that he’d never reach that sort of level.

Twenty agonizingly long and slow minutes later, the carriage finally arrived at Shirotsume and the two Dragon Slayers were more than eager to hop off and head through town. For at least the first two minutes, all that could be heard were praises for solid ground and Natsu’s complaints about hunger.

“Why don’t you eat your own fire, then?” Lucy suggested.

“Oh yeah, that sounds great,” Natsu retorted sarcastically. “Why don’t you eat Plue or your cow while you’re at it?”

“Why the heck would I do that?”

“It’s kind of the same thing,” he explained, still feeling off from the long travel.

“I guess you could think of it this way, Lucy,” Makoto said, understanding the concept behind it on a basic level. “Natsu regains his energy by eating fire, right? But if he ate the fire that he uses energy to make, then it’s not like he’s actually gaining any extra energy, thus he still feels hungry. Make sense?”

“Probably somethin’ like that,” Natsu shrugged in a way that clearly meant he didn’t really care all too much.

Maya looked around and perked up at the sight of a restaurant nearby. “Hey Natsu, there’s a restaurant over there!”

Natsu grinned. “All right, let’s go!”

But Lucy waved them off. “You guys go ahead; I’ll catch up in a bit.”

“What’s with her?” Natsu asked when she disappeared off. “We should be eating together as a team.”

“Just let her do her own thing,” Makoto said as he dragged Natsu to one of the tables outside. They didn’t have to wait long for their order to come, which consisted of lots of plates of meat and fish. Makoto kept his single plate to himself as Natsu easily devoured all the meat on five separate plates.

“I don’t get why you guys keep teasing Lucy,” Makoto said between mouthfuls. Natsu and Happy glanced at each other before they shrugged in synch.

“It’s all just fun and games. You know, lighthearted stuff,” he said, stuffing another chicken leg in his mouth at the end of his sentence.

“Haven’t you thought about what might happen if one of your jokes goes too far?” Makoto pressed.

Natsu chuckled. “As if she’d actually take us seriously!”

“What are you guys talking about?”

Makoto looked over his shoulder at the sound of Lucy’s voice, but almost choked on the piece of meat when he realized that she’d actually gone and changed into a black and white maid outfit. He coughed a little and chugged down a glass of water while Maya thumped on his back as hard as she could. Natsu and Happy’s jaws dropped and the food fell from their mouths. Makoto sent a pointed look towards the duo and they had the decency to look slightly sheepish.

Lucy stared blankly at the four of them sat at the table before the situation finally dawned on her. Her eye twitched irritably. “You two were just joking about the costume, weren’t you…?”

When they gave her uncertain smiles, Lucy took a deep breath and said, “You know what? I’ve got the outfit anyway and it’d be too much of a hassle to change out of it. Let’s just hurry up and go meet with the client.”

The guys quickly finished their meals and left the restaurant after leaving the payment on the table. They followed the directions on the job request until they finally reached the mansion of their client, who introduced himself as Kaby Melon as they sat down on couches either side of a small table.

“Oh wow, you have a tasty name!” Natsu commented excitedly, only to receive a harsh jab to the side from Lucy’s elbow. “Don’t be rude!” she reprimanded.

“It’s all right, I get that a lot,” Kaby laughed. He went over the job he needed them to complete: they had to infiltrate Everlue’s mansion, track down a book called Daybreak, and burn it. Strangely enough, Makoto found that he had to rub his suddenly itchy nose several times during the explanation. ( _“What’s up with this?”_ ) he questioned in his head. Nothing like it had happened before. ( _“Something’s making my nose twitch like crazy… But I can’t tell what it could be.”_ )

“No prob,” Natsu said once Kaby finished his brief overview, making a flame appear on the end of his finger. “Heh. I’ll burn the whole place down if ya want.”

“He likes fire!” Happy added.

“Don’t go overboard,” Makoto discouraged, returning to the conversation.

“I’m not going to jail for _arson_ because of the two of you!” Lucy protested, before turning to Kaby and saying, “May I ask why, sir?”

Natsu folded his arms in a somewhat disapproving manner. “For 200,000 jewel, who the heck cares?”

Kaby took the opportunity to inform them, “The reward has been raised to 2 million.”

“2 _million?!”_ the team gaped.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were aware that the amount had changed,” Kaby said.

“2 million split five ways? Wow! I stink at math, but that’s a lot!” Natsu yelled.

“I know how we can split it!” Happy called.

Makoto interrupted him before he could go any further, “We’re splitting it evenly, Happy. Don’t get any ideas.”

Maya raised her paw like a young child and asked, “Why’d you raise the reward, mister?”

Kaby clenched his hands together. “Because it means that much to me. That book must be destroyed, no matter the cost.”

“Oh yeah!” Natsu shouted. “I’m all fired up now! Let’s go, team!” He rushed out of the door, Happy following close behind. It took a moment for the others to react but soon they were rushing after him as they exited the mansion.

As it turned out, Duke Everlue’s mansion was just on the outskirts of town, which put it at quite a distance from the other buildings and people. It was bad because it took a whole ten minutes just to walk there, but should Natsu go destructive again, it was far enough for nothing else to be caught in the war zone.

Natsu, Makoto, Happy, and Maya hid behind some trees near to the gate as Lucy uncertainly approached it and called, “Excuse me! I heard you had an opening for a maid position? Hello?”

“Don’t screw up, okay?” Natsu advised.

“Break a leg!” Happy called.

Makoto ran his hand through his hair and sighed, “Sometimes, I think you guys’ advice does more harm than good.”

They waited a few moments for something to happen as Lucy milled around the entrance gate. Out of the blue, Makoto felt something _weird_ inside him. It was similar to his magic, like the energizing feeling that came with using his roar, but something felt off and different about it in a way he couldn’t describe.

He looked over to Lucy when he heard the earth crack around her feet and a giant lady in a maid outfit came bursting out of the ground. A few moments after that, a man popped out of the ground as well—this one he recognized as Everlue.

( _“What was that feeling I got…?”_ ) he wondered to himself as Lucy tried to get on Everlue’s good side. ( _“Geez, what the heck’s happening to me today? First my nose, and now my stomach or magic or whatever… Maybe I’m just trying to adapt to these Dragon Slayer changes.”_ )

Unfortunately for the team, Everlue dismissed Lucy because he saw her as ‘ugly’, effectively ruining their plan to get in that way. Once the maids and Everlue disappeared into the ground again, Lucy came over to the bushes and sobbed behind a tree.

“So what’s Plan B?” Makoto inquired as Maya tried to comfort Lucy, who was having a mental breakdown.

Natsu smiled as he punched his fist into his palm. “Actually, it’s Plan T!”

“Which is…?”

“Take ‘em by storm!” Happy cheered.

“That’s not a plan!” Lucy objected.

“Oh yeah?” Happy countered. “What do you suppose we do?”

Having gotten over her personal crisis, she pointed to the room of Everlue’s mansion and suggested, “We should get in through the windows in the roof.”

“Yup yup!” Maya chirped, apparently agreeing with the plan. She grabbed onto Makoto’s hoodie in order to fly him up there, Happy followed suit with Natsu. Maya flew back for Lucy, who had managed to change back into her normal clothes in the short amount of time they were separated.

“This isn’t really ‘taking them by storm’, you know,” Natsu complained as he melted a hole in the glass in order to open the window. “I think we should’ve just busted in through the front door.”

“Then they’d know we’re here, Natsu,” Makoto reasoned. “The job would probably go a lot smoother if we didn’t have to deal with any guards.”

“Besides, what did I tell you before?” Lucy reminded. “I’m not going to jail because of you!” Natsu gave up with the argument and climbed through the window, followed by the rest of the wizards. They ended up in a large, dusty room with tons of shelves and boxes, as well as some miscellaneous items like suits of armor.

Lucy poked around the room, looking between all of the shelves. “Is this some kind of weird storeroom?”

“BLAAARGGHHH!” Happy screamed, jumping out in front of her and Makoto, giving them mini heart attacks. “Check me out!” he bragged to Natsu, showing off the skull he’d managed to fit over his head.

“Yeah, you’re looking fierce, Happy!”

Once the two had recovered from their surprise, they exited the room and nosed around some of the rooms that were on the second-floor balcony. None of them seemed to have what they were looking for, though.

“What was in there?” Makoto asked curiously as Lucy shut another door a little too quickly.

“A solid gold toilet with a certain someone’s creepy face attached.”

Makoto shivered and wisely gave the door a wide berth.

“Are we gonna have to search every room in this whole stinking place?” Natsu complained as they made their way around the balcony. “I think we should take a hostage and force them to tell us where the book is.”

“Natsu, the idea is not to be seen, remember?” Makoto said.

“You gotta be stealthy,” Lucy added, holding her hands in some weird position. “Like a ninja.” That grabbed their attention, as Natsu began daydreaming about being a ninja. At least, that was probably what he was daydreaming about. Makoto wasn’t too keen on finding out the specifics.

“What’s going on inside that head of yours?” Lucy’s exasperated tone of voice made it clear she shared Makoto’s viewpoint. They were interrupted when the floor exploded and revealed the four maids who’d appeared outside, along with the massive pink-haired one who the others called Virgo.

“BLAAARGGHHH!” Happy screamed again, still with his skull mask on, which managed to scare the four maids and distract them long enough for Natsu to knock them out with his fiery fists. Virgo avoided his attack and jumped straight up into the sky. She descended quickly towards him, prepared to give him a body slam, but Makoto quickly took in a deep breath and let out an Earth Dragon’s Roar, sending the maid flying over the balcony edge and to the first floor.

“We mustn’t let ourselves be discovered,” Natsu stated in a funny voice, wrapping his scarf around his head so that only his eyes showed. “We are ninja!”

“Ninja!” Happy echoed from his shoulder, having removed the skull mask.

“Ninja!” Maya cried happily from Makoto’s head.

“Oh geez…” Makoto facepalmed, realizing that somehow the duo had corrupted the poor, innocent cat.

“Ninjas are supposed to be quiet,” Lucy wearily reminded them. They went down to the first floor and opened another one of the doors, this one leading to a library that was filled from floor to ceiling with shelves of books.

“There are many books in this library,” Natsu stated in his ninja voice.

“Aye. There are indeed,” Happy agreed in a similar voice.

“We should get started on looking for that book,” Makoto said, approaching one of the shelves and scanning over the spines for the title. It sure was going to take a while, though. There were way too many books for them to check over in a reasonable amount of time. He wished he was back in his world; they had computers in libraries for exactly this reason.

“Ooh, this one has lots pictures in it!”

“This one’s a book about fish!”

Makoto sighed to himself as he overheard the comments after five minutes of searching. “Talk about short attention spans…” he muttered under his breath.

“Check out this one! It’s sparkly!” Makoto turned as he watched Lucy berate the two for fooling around, before freezing and yelling, “It’s Daybreak!”

“We’ve been here that long?” Happy asked.

“I didn’t even get to sleep a wink!” Maya complained.

“No,” Makoto disagreed as he hurried over. “She means that Natsu found the book!”

“I did?” Natsu parroted, as if surprised by his own luck. He grinned and lit his hand on fire. “Let’s spark it up!”

Faster than he could realize, the book had vanished from his grasp, snatched up by Lucy who exclaimed, “Hang on! I didn’t realize this was written by Kemu Zaleon!”

Makoto and Natsu shared a confused glance. “Zale—What?”

“Zaleon was a great wizard and an amazing novelist!” Lucy explained before she hugged the book tight. “I’m such a big fan! I was totally positive that I’ve read every single sentence he’s ever written, but this must be an unpublished novel!”

Natsu shrugged and lit his finger on fire again. “Who cares? It all burns the same to me.”

“Don’t you dare touch it!” Lucy warned, holding it away from the Fire Wizard. “This is a great work of literature! You better stay away from it, pyro!”

“But what about our mission?” Happy asked.

“Just forget about the stupid mission!”

“Failure is not an option!”

“Lucy, just hand over the book,” Makoto insisted, feeling a little edgy. “We don’t have that much time; those maids probably warned Everlue already. We need to get out of here!”

“Come on, you guys! Let’s just say we burned it!” Lucy begged, backing away from Natsu’s flaming palm. “I’ll keep it a secret, I swear!”

“I’m not a liar,” Natsu simply responded, moving closer. “Aye,” Happy added.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” Everyone tensed and looked around, trying to figure out where the source of the voice was coming from. The ground cracked and Everlue appeared.

“So you thieves are looking to pilfer Daybreak from me, are you? Boyoyo!” he said as he landed.

“See, slowpoke?” Natsu said, pointing towards the man. “This is all your fault!”

“Heh,” Lucy laughed nervously. “Um, sorry about that.”

“I knew all you lowlife wizard types were coming around here to take something of mine,” Everlue sneered. “I never would’ve guessed it was that _stupid_ book.”

“Stupid…?” Natsu muttered.

“This works out great!” Lucy cheered. “If it’s so stupid, I guess it’s fine if I keep it?”

“It’s mine! You can’t have it so get your grubby hands off!” Everlue screamed.

“Greedy-gut,” Lucy mumbled.

“Shut your trap, ugly,” he retorted.

Natsu sighed in frustration and lit his hand on fire again. “Would you hand over that book and let me get this over with?”

“No way! I’m not giving it to you!” Lucy whined. Natsu whirled around to face her, face angry and serious.

“Lucy!” he snapped. “This is our _job!”_

She huffed and plopped onto the floor, flicking over the cover of the book. “Well, at least let me read it first!”

Everyone did a double take and shouted, “Read it _now?!”_

“I’ve had enough!” Everlue declared, beginning to get serious. “How dare you put your filthy hands on my possessions! Now, come forth, Vanish Brothers!” Everyone turned to watch as a few of the bookshelves slid apart to reveal a doorway and two people standing in it. One of them was smaller and almost entirely bald, with a white tunic, black pants, and a giant frying pan behind his back. The other was taller, wearing a blue and black sweatshirt, and light blue pants. Natsu and Makoto tensed in preparation for a fight.

“You called upon us, sir?” the shorter one asked.

“Can you believe that these little punks are from the Fairy Tail guild?” the taller one mocked. “Talk about a bunch of runts.”

“Makoto, Makoto, those two are from a mercenary guild called the Southern Wolves!” Maya warned, pointing towards the cloth emblems that both of them wore around their arms.

“So you got bodyguards, do ya?” Natsu asked rhetorically, cracking his knuckles.

“Boyoyo!” Everlue laughed, twirling his mustache between his fingers. The two mercenaries were stood behind their client, ready for a battle. “The Southern Wolves are always hungry for fresh game! Say your prayers, thieves!”

Behind them, Lucy abruptly stood up with the book clutched in her hands. “Hey Natsu, Makoto, keep them busy for a while,” she whispered. “I’m not sure, but I think this book holds some kind of secret.”

The two nodded, allowing Lucy to escape through the passageway that had opened up between the bookshelves. Everlue noticed and sunk into the earth again. “I’m going after the girl. Make sure pinky and spike head don’t leave here in one piece!” he ordered, disappearing from sight.

“Happy, go on and help Lucy,” Natsu said, turning to the cat.

“Are you sure you don’t need me here?” Happy questioned.

Makoto placed a hand on Maya. “Maya, you go with him. Natsu will be fine with me to back him up.”

“Yup yup!” Maya nodded in understanding and the two cats unfurled their wings and took off after their blonde teammate.

“You sure talk big for little guys,” the taller brother remarked.

“Perhaps we should put them in their place,” the other one suggested. “Fire Wizards are no match for us.”

“How’d you know I’m a Fire Wizard?” Natsu inquired. They explained that they’d been watching their fight with Virgo and they observed his fire magic in use. They also mentioned that was also how they found out Makoto was an Earth Wizard.

Natsu smirked after learning that. “Guess you know what happens when you mess with fire: you get burned!” He lit both of his hands on fire and swung at the brothers, but the shorter one blocked it with his frying pan, which seemed to absorb all of his fire.

“Like I said, you’re no match for us,” he said as he brought the frying pan around, pushing Natsu back to where Makoto was stood. The taller one then leaped into the air and swung his leg down towards the two, prompting them to dodge as his kick broke the floor apart. The smaller brother moved between them, swinging his frying pan and causing the wizards to crash through the door. Natsu managed to land on the tongue of Everlue’s giant golden statue, but he needed to help Makoto stabilize himself.

“Fairy Tail may be a big time guild and all, but you pathetic wizards are no match for trained mercenaries like us,” the taller brother boasted from the balcony.

“If that’s your best, then you’re dead wrong!” Natsu laughed. Makoto remained silent, trying to fight off the pain of being slammed with an iron pan and crashing through a wooden door. His chest and back were starting to sting… How could Natsu just laugh it off? ( _“Oh yeah,”_ ) Makoto remembered. ( _“He’s kinda weird. And I guess he’s been doing this sort of thing for a while.”_ )

“This kid really thinks he can beat us?” the taller one said.

“Do you happen to know what a wizard’s greatest weakness is?” the shorter one quizzed.

( _“The only thing that comes to mind is…”_ ) Makoto and Natsu’s faces grew pale at the mere thought of it and they both choked out, “Motion sickness?!”

The two brothers sweatdropped. “I think that might be more of a personal problem… No, their weakness is… their bodies!” At that, the shorter one leaped forward, swinging his pan down towards the two. Natsu and Makoto managed to jump off of the tongue in time before the mercenary smashed it apart from the rest of the statue.

“Since wizards have to focus so intensely on honing their _mental_ abilities…” he explained as his brother came around to punch at the Fairy Tail wizards.

“They neglect to train their bodies, which leaves them _physically_ weak,” he finished, pulling his fist out of the crater he made in the wall when he missed.

“On the other hand, we focus on our physical abilities,” the shorter brother continued as he landed.

His brother came to stand beside him. “So we have more power and speed than you!”

Makoto huffed as he fought for breath, trying to make it seem like he wasn’t too tired. ( _“Natsu doesn’t seem bothered by this whole physical, mental thing, and maybe it’s a side effect of coming to this world, but I’m taking damage better than I would be. Still, I rarely do anything this physically demanding, so I’m at more of a disadvantage here…”_ )

The taller one turned to his brother. “Hey, bro. Combo attack?”

“Sounds good,” the other one agreed as he held out his frying pan so it was parallel to the ground. His brother then jumped right into the middle of it, and Natsu and Makoto prepared themselves for what was to come.

“Heaven and Earth Annihilation!” the two brothers bellowed as the taller one was flung up in the air by the pan, catching both of the wizards’ attention.

“Look towards heaven, and we strike from the earth!” the shorter one shouted as he bashed them with his frying pan, sending them flying back.

“Look towards earth…” the taller brother started, appearing above Natsu, but was interrupted by Makoto jumping up towards him.

“And you piss off its dragon!” Makoto shouted. As he’d been knocked further back than Natsu, he was able to see the mercenary start to descend upon his teammate. Makoto pulled his fist back to try a new technique, his fist becoming enveloped in stones and a green light, gaining the appearance of a club. _“Earth Dragon’s Seismic Fist!”_

The attack sent the mercenary crashing back to the ground, coming to a halt when he was beside his partner, who was muttering, “That’s impossible! He saw through our Heaven and Earth Annihilation Technique?!”

The taller brother stood up, swiping his hand across his mouth. “You’re faster than I thought you’d be.”

Natsu gave Makoto a thumbs-up when he landed beside him. “Thanks for the save. Now it’s my turn!” Natsu took in a huge breath before shouting, _“Fire Dragon’s Roar!”_

The flamethrower hurtled towards their opponents, and Makoto thought they’d got them, until the fire began to disappear, absorbed into the shorter man’s frying pan. “You see, my frying pan absorbs your fire and doubles its strength…”

He spun around as soon as all the fires were gone, a manic grin on his face as he aimed the other side of the frying pan towards them. “Right back at you!”

A massive concentrated beam of heat shot towards Natsu, who looked utterly unimpressed and bored out of his mind. Makoto quickly hurried behind him as the beam collided and caused a fiery explosion, engulfing the two of them. The Vanish Brothers laughed when the attack connected.

“Now he’s a flame cooked fairy!” the taller one joked.

A sucking sound was heard from within the fire and smoke, and all of the flames were quickly devoured by Natsu, who was unaffected by the heat. Makoto stood a distance behind him, protected from the explosion by Natsu. The brothers screamed in fear at Natsu’s ability.

“Oh yeah, now I’ve got some fire in my belly,” Natsu grinned evilly. “Let me show you something… _Fire Dragon’s Wing Attack!”_ Whips of fire emerged from Natsu’s hands and he swung them towards the brothers. The result was a massive explosion that totaled most of the first floor and blew out all of the windows.

Makoto facepalmed at the scene in front of him. “Natsu…” he groaned.

Natsu turned to look at the ruined house and the charcoal brothers who were both knocked out from the attack. “Did I overdo it again?” he wondered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's chapter 3! Makoto got to have a bit of the action, hopefully that's all good and stuff. Feel free to leave comments, because I love reading anything you guys leave me :D
> 
> Oh and because I only remembered now, if it wasn't clear in previous chapters, ("These are thoughts.") I know it's a bit of a weird way to write them, but idk I just got used to this because I wrote on my iPhone notes and that had no italics so yeah.
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	4. Dear Kaby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wizards finish their first job together and run into some trouble on the walk home.

While Natsu and Makoto dealt with the Southern Wolves mercenaries upstairs, Lucy fled down the staircase to find that it led out into an underground sewer. Disgusted but confident that she wouldn’t be found for a while, she quickly flicked through the book to try and figure out what the secret of it was. She’d just figured it out when Everlue had appeared behind her and restrained her, demanding to know the secrets of the book.

“Enemy of literature?” Everlue growled, offended by the comment Lucy had just made. “My massive collection of books and art only prove that I’m culture’s greatest friend!”

“But that ugly maid collection of yours proves you don’t know squat about beauty!” she retorted, sore about all the ugly insults directed at her.

“How dare you mock them! They are the very definition of beauty!” Everlue applied more pressure against Lucy, causing her to gasp in pain as he leaned further out of the wall.

“What secret does it hold? Let me guess: he buried his fortune and there’s a treasure map hidden inside!” he speculated, eagerly eyeing up Daybreak. “Tell me, or I’ll snap your arm like a toothpick!” Lucy struggled for a bit, before managing to turn around and blow him a raspberry. Everlue’s eyes narrowed and he pushed harder, driving Lucy into the ground.

“Now’s not the time to get sassy,” he told off. “Listen, I myself commissioned this book’s very creation. Therefore, any secret it holds is rightfully my property!”

“Leave Lucy alone, ya big bully!”

“Aye!”

Lucy felt the grip on her arms loosen, and turned to see Maya and Happy crash into Everlue, bringing him out of his hole and allowing Lucy to get away.

“Happy! Maya!” The two flying cats grinned at her. “That was so cool!” Happy’s wings suddenly vanished and he plummeted into the underground river.

“What’s this?” Everlue demanded, picking himself up from the ground to see who attacked him. “Flying cats?”

“The name’s Happy!” the cat burbled from half under the water.

Maya thumped her chest. “And I’m Maya! Get it right!”

“I wouldn’t stay in there if I were you,” Lucy warned.

“But the water feels soooo good!” Happy remarked as he floated around in it. Lucy facepalmed and mumbled, “That’s sewer water, Happy….”

Maya covered her nose with her paw. “Eww! You better have a bath before you barge into our apartment again!”

“You make it sound like it’s going to be a regular thing!” Lucy said.

Maya shrugged helplessly. “Knowing those two…”

Deciding to get back on track before Everlue could attack them while distracted, Lucy took out one of her golden keys and pointed it at him. “Looks like the tables have turned! But if you let me keep the book, I might think about going easy on you. Although, I’m tempted to give you a good smack!”

“Oh, a Celestial Wizard?” Everlue remarked. “But for a reader, you seem to be a bit deficient in your terms of phrase. ‘The tables have turned’ implies that the weaker party has rallied to claim victory. But there’s no way you and those cats could ever defeat me and my Diver Magic! Boyoyo!” he laughed as a yellow magic circle appeared behind him and he vanished into the ground.

“So he does that using magic?” Happy questioned after he got out of the water. “I had no idea Everlue was a wizard, too!”

“Do you not smell yourself?” Lucy asked incredulously. Everlue took the opportunity to jump out of the ground then, to which Lucy dodged out of the way. This continued for a while, with Everlue disappearing then attacking and Lucy jumping out of the way.

“Look, I know the whole story now!” Lucy shouted when there was a pause in the onslaught of attacks. “It’s a horrible adventure novel about a trashy little character named Duke Everlue!”

“You serious?” Happy asked.

Maya let out a gasp and pointed towards Everlue. “You mean he was named after an awful book character?!”

“I don’t think that’s quite it,” Happy dismissed.

“I don’t know that I’d call the protagonist trashy…” he trailed off as he dove again with his magic. “But yes! The story itself is crap, and to think it was written by the great Kemu Zaleon! Inexcusable!” Everlue popped out of the ground then behind Lucy after making dozens of holes in the walls and ceiling of the sewer.

“I can’t believe your arrogance!” Lucy exclaimed once she’d dodged his attacks and he disappeared into the ceiling. “You forced him to write it!”

“Arrogant? Moi? The word doesn’t begin to apply!” Everlue’s voice echoed through the numerous tunnels he already made, making it difficult to pinpoint his exact location. “To tell my story is an honor, no matter what the circumstance is!”

“Then why’d you have to blackmail him into it?!” she demanded.

“Blackmail?” Happy and Maya echoed.

“What’s the big deal?” Everlue questioned as he popped out again. “He just needed some extra encouragement to take the job. Anyone would’ve jumped at the chance to have me as their muse, but he had the audacity to say no!”

“So I gave him the added inspiration in the form of an ultimatum,” he said as his arm poked out of the ground behind them. “Write the novel, or his family would be stripped of their citizenship.”

Happy let out a surprised gasp. “But, then none of them would be able to join any of the guilds and make a living!”

“This evil old man has the power to do that?” Maya questioned aloud.

“I have the power to do anything!” he declared as he caused the pathway in front of them to crumble. “But I got him to write it, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t like his attitude though, so I decided he’d do best writing from a prison cell! Boyoyo! He went on and on about being a brilliant novelist who would never give into threats, but in the end, I got what I wanted!” Everlue revealed as he unleashed more of his magic.

“I can’t believe you’d go that far just to boost your own stupid ego!” Lucy spat as she ran from the attack with Happy and Maya flying close behind. “He was in solitary confinement for three years; don’t you know how hard that must’ve been?!” She came to a stop and flipped backward when Everlue exited the ground right in front of her.

“Perhaps it took him that long to appreciate me. Boyoyo!” he suggested.

Lucy countered, “You’re wrong! More like he couldn’t bear to spread your lies! But he had to satisfy your vanity. He knew that if he didn’t write your character as a heroic champion of justice, his family would suffer!”

Everlue narrowed his eyes. “Tell me. How exactly do you know all this?”

Lucy held up the book that she still had in her hand. “It’s all right here in black and white.”

“What?” Everlue scoffed in disbelief. “I’ve read that book from cover to cover, and Kemu Zaleon isn’t in it.”

“Well, yeah; if you read it normally, there’s no mention of him,” Lucy admitted. “But I know something that you don’t know: long before he was an author, he was a wizard!”

“Really?” Maya gasped.

“He was?” Happy asked.

“What did he do?” Everlue demanded in a low, threatening tone.

“After he finished the book, he gathered all of his remaining strength and cast a spell on it,” she revealed.

“What a dirty trick…” he growled. “He turned a book about a great man like me into a hatchet job?! The nerve of that fool!”

“Oh, get over yourself!” Lucy yelled as she jumped out of the path of his attack. “It’s true that he wrote about all the pain and torture that you put him through, but the chapters that focus on what you did to him are only a small part of the book. In fact, its secret has nothing to do with you!”

“Tell us, Lucy!” Happy begged, practically drooling over the suspense of its hidden secret.

“What the devil do you mean?” Everlue questioned.

“I’m not going to give this book back to you, Duke Everlue. Because it was never really yours to begin with!” She held the book behind her back and brandished her third golden gate key, the object glowing with magic. “ _Open, Gate of the Giant Crab! Cancer!”_

When the light and smoke cleared, it was revealed that Cancer was a sunglasses-wearing guy with six crab legs extending from his back. He had a funny hairstyle with bits of his hair sticking up like tiny crab pinchers and he had scissors with the handles styled like crab pinchers as well.

“A giant crab!” Happy exclaimed excitedly. “Oh yeah, nothing says ‘I’m gonna kick your butt’ like a crab man with razor claws and tough guy sunglasses!”

“Those are some awesome shades, yup yup!” Maya cheered alongside him.

“Shut up and let me concentrate or I’ll tell him to pinch your little lips off!” Lucy told them off, more annoyed at Happy than Maya because of favoritism towards the tabby.

“Hey Lucy,” Cancer said. “How would you like your hair done today? …Baby.”

“I don’t need styling, I need help!” she clarified as she pointed at Everlue. “It’s that guy! Take care of baldy over there!”

“Whatever you say, baby.”

“Oh, so he just makes the bad guys look cooler before they kill us. That’s useful,” Happy commented as he recovered from his earlier shock. “Yeah, you should send him back, Lucy.”

“I should send you back,” she threatened.

Maya seemed unaffected, or perhaps ignorant, by the reveal of Cancer’s personality. “Yup yup! Cancer’s gonna beat that meany Everlue good!” Everlue growled and dug out something from his pocket that looked surprisingly familiar.

A golden gate key.

 _“Open, Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!”_ he said, activating the magic of the key with the sound of a doorbell.

Maya flinched. “Ahh! Another Lucy!”

The ground split apart again as the large pink-haired maid from earlier appeared, yelling, “Did I hear my master summon me?”

“Virgo, fetch me that book!” Everlue commanded.

“Hold up, _she’s_ a Celestial Spirit?” Lucy questioned. She froze before gasping in shock at something she noticed about Virgo, with Happy, Maya, and Everlue following suit.

“Natsu! Makoto!” The two Dragon Slayers looked around confused as they sat on Virgo’s shoulders.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Everlue bellowed.

“What are you two doing up there?” Lucy screamed.

They shared a glance before Makoto explained, “We saw her getting up, so Natsu jumped on her, I grabbed onto him, and then we ended up here. Where are we, anyway?”

“Wait, so that means you passed through the spirit gate with her? That’s impossible!” Lucy exclaimed.

“Lucy!” Natsu cried as Virgo began trying to reach them. “What the heck do I do now?”

Lucy hesitated at the novelty of being asked for suggestions from Natsu, but then yelled, “Finish what you started!”

“Virgo! Clean up this rubbish!” Everlue ordered.

“As you wish, master!” Natsu and Makoto jumped off of Virgo as she pulled her arm back to smash them. Both of the Dragon Slayers gathered their magic in their fists.

_“Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”_

_“Earth Dragon’s Seismic Fist!”_ They lashed out with their respective fist attacks, easily taking the Celestial Spirit down. Lucy used her whip to wrap up Everlue so he couldn’t use his Diver Magic and then threw him into the air where Cancer attacked with his scissors.

“You’re just another greedy villain!” Lucy shouted as the unconscious and hairless Everlue crashed to the ground.

“Does this look fabulous or what, baby?” Cancer asked.

“Oh yeah! Way to go, crab man! Uh, baby?” Natsu congratulated, unsurely tacking on the word at the end. Everyone froze as the entire tunnel began shaking due to the stress inflicted on it during the battle and all of the holes Everlue dug. The Fairy Tail wizards quickly fled from the underground, reaching the surface just in time to watch the entire mansion come crumbling to the ground.

“I like your style! Out with a bang!” Natsu complimented, unconcerned with the damage in front of him. “You guys are definitely going to fit in at Fairy Tail!”

“I can’t believe it’s so easy for me to destroy a mansion…” Makoto said. ( _“Geez, I need to work on controlling my strength…”_ )

“Aren’t we supposed to _not_ destroy stuff?” Happy questioned.

“I hope I don’t get blamed for this…” Lucy moaned.

Maya, like Natsu, acted happy-go-lucky towards the situation. “Everlue’s house is falling down~! Falling down, falling down~!” she sang, flying loops in the air before landing on Makoto’s head with a giggle.

“Let’s get out of here before we get arrested or something,” Makoto suggested as they headed down the path.

“Oh, Lucy!” Maya called while they were on their way to Kaby’s mansion. “How’d you know the book had a spell?”

Makoto glanced between the two. “Daybreak has a spell on it?”

Lucy nodded. “When I read Daybreak, I couldn’t believe it was written by Kemu Zaleon. There’s no way he would’ve done something that bad.”

“Yeah? So?” Natsu asked.

“So that’s how I knew there must be a spell on it,” she answered when they reached the gates of the mansion. Once they’d been let in and led to the room they’d first met Kaby in, Lucy handed the book over to him.

“But, I requested this book be destroyed,” he reminded them, baffled by Lucy’s actions. “Why on earth are you handing it back to me completely unscathed?”

“If you really want to burn it, then I’d rather you do it yourself,” she explained.

“I most certainly will burn this trash,” he declared. The book shook within his grasp. “I never wanted to see it again.”

“I completely understand why you feel the way you do about this book,” Lucy said. “You want to protect your father’s legacy. Because you’re actually Zaleon’s son, aren’t you?” The rest of the Fairy Tail wizards started at the revelation.

Finally, Kaby said, “Yes, that’s true.”

“Have you read it yourself?”

“No, I…” Kaby paused. “I could never bring myself to do it. My father told me it was garbage.”

“You were just going to burn it?” Natsu asked incredulously.

“I was,” he answered. Natsu growled and stormed over to him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

“Without even bothering to see what’s inside?!” Natsu shouted. “It’s the last book that your dad wrote, right? Some of us would kill for that kind of memory!”

“Natsu, let him go!” Makoto yelled, grabbing Natsu and pulling him off of the older man. “He must have had some sort of reason behind it; there’s no need to be violent about it!”

Natsu took in a deep breath and then shook him off. Kaby sighed, “Please… That book caused my family great heartache and shame. It was thirty one years ago…”

Kaby explained that his father had returned after mysteriously vanishing for three years. Kaby had tried to find out where he’d been, but his father refused to give a straight answer. The Fairy Tail wizards flinched when they were told that his father cut off his own hand, declaring that he’d never write again. Kaby continued by telling them he was so angry at his father for disappearing for three years to write a novel for Everlue that his father told him he wasn’t even proud of.

“Not long after that, my father passed away. However, the anger and betrayal I felt towards him lived on. But as the years passed by me, that anger slowly turned into remorse.” Kaby’s wife came to his side and hugged him as he continued his story. “And now, it’s too late for me to ask for his forgiveness. So I decided to make amends by destroying the final work that caused him so much unhappiness.”

“This is the only way I can preserve his legacy,” he said as he lit a match, the book tucked under his arm. “I’m sure that this is what he’d want.”

“…No, you’re wrong.” Everyone looked towards Lucy in surprise from her blunt response. “Kaby, look!”

The Daybreak book began brightly glowing purple, sending a blinding light out. A magic circle flashed into existence as the letters in the title floated off of the cover and rearranged themselves. “A spell has been cast on this book,” Lucy revealed. “It’s the work of the wizard, Kemu Zaleon. Or should I say Zekua Melon?”

“A spell?” Kaby questioned as the book floated from the magic power it was given off. When the letters on the cover finished, he read the new title aloud, “Dear… Kaby…”

“That’s right,” she smiled. “This book is his letter to you, disguised behind a spell that rearranged all of the words, so no one else could read it.”

Just then, the book opened and numerous letters and words came pouring out, forming glowing tendrils as they flew around the room, rearranging themselves to write out the intended message of the book. Makoto couldn’t help but beam at the wonderful way that magic could be used, and also at Maya, who cheerfully bounced up and down on the floor to try and touch the floating, glowing letters.

“He didn’t stop writing because he was ashamed,” Lucy said. “He stopped because he had finished his masterpiece! A novel containing everything he ever wanted to say to his beloved son. And when you read it the way he intended, it’s easily his best work ever!”

…

_“I thought about you the entire time I was gone.”_

…

Kaby’s eyes filled with tears as he recalled the words his father had once told him, finally understanding the full meaning behind them.

The intricate web of words disappeared back into the book, the spell reversed and the book as it should be. “And now that the spell’s been broken, you can read it for yourself,” Lucy said.

“Thank you, father…” Kaby murmured as he clutched Dear Kaby closed to his chest. “I swear that I will never let any harm come to this book.”

Natsu sighed and smiled as he stuck a hand behind his head. “Well, I guess we won’t be collecting that reward.” At everyone’s shocked expressions, he elaborated, “We were supposed to destroy it; we didn’t finish the job.”

“Even so… Let me do something,” Kaby insisted.

“Yeah!” Lucy added in agreement. “It’s not our fault he decided not to burn the book after we got it back for him!”

“Lucy…” Happy chided her. “Don’t be so greedy! You’re totally ruining what _was_ a touching moment!”

“I need the cash!” she complained. Makoto chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Natsu’s got a point, though. We were hired to burn it and we can’t complete that request. Besides, there are plenty of other jobs out there.”

“Thanks for offering, but we don’t want it,” Natsu said to Kaby as he walked towards the door.

“Um, yes we do!” the blonde protested. “I need to pay rent!”

“I think it’s time we all go home,” Natsu noted as he paused to look back over his shoulder. “That means you too, Mister Melon. Go back home.”

* * *

 

“Unbelievable…” Lucy complained as they continued down the road again. “Who in their right mind would ever turn down 2 million jewel?”

“If we had taken the money, it wouldn’t have looked good,” Natsu reasoned. “You gotta think about Fairy Tail’s reputation.”

“We’ll just do another job later, okay?” Makoto suggested in an attempt to cheer her up.

“Yup yup!” Maya laughed. “More adventures!”

“But we made him happy, right?” Lucy argued. “We got the job done and now we’re _walking_ home?”

Makoto shivered. “Never again. I don’t care if it takes another couple of days to walk back.” He paused as he considered something else that they’d found out. “And then they told us that they were only renting the mansion and that they weren’t even rich. I suppose that’s why my nose felt funny; it was picking up two different scents.”

Lucy looked at him confusedly. “Different scents?”

“Yeah,” Natsu answered for him as they stopped for the night. “That’s how I knew it wasn’t their house. But, you said you weren’t sure, Makoto?”

Makoto nodded as Natsu set fire to some firewood they’d gathered. “The whole ‘heightened sense of smell’ thing is something that happened pretty recently—because of my Dragon Slayer Magic, I suppose—so I’m not very good at distinguishing different smells.”

“I’m in a team with four animals…” Lucy bemoaned quietly to herself.

Out of the blue, Natsu smirked to himself as they roasted some fish they’d caught in a nearby river by the fire. “I’ve got you figured out. There was a pile of papers on your desk at your place.”

“You read them?!” Lucy shrieked, her face going red. Makoto tuned into the conversation, interested in the direction it was taking. He remembered seeing the papers himself, but Lucy had adamantly refused to tell him anything about what they were. In fact, they were one of the things that she’d set a rule about not looking at.

“You’re writing a novel, aren’t you?” he guessed, taking a bite out of the steaming fish.

“Promise you won’t tell anybody, okay?” she pleaded.

“Why not?” Maya asked as she plodded over and placed a paw on her leg.

“‘Cause I’m a horrible writer! If anybody read my stuff, I’d die of embarrassment!” she freaked out, hiding her bright red face.

Makoto cracked a smile at her reaction. “But if nobody reads it, then there won’t be anyone to feedback and improve your writing, right?”

Suddenly she was in his face, a finger hovering inches from his nose. “Not. A. Soul!”

“A-Aye…” he answered nervously.

The next day they continued on their hike back to Magnolia. On the way there they had to pass through a swamp. Maya and Happy rode on their respective partners’ head to avoid trekking through the muddy water.

““I don’t know about this, guys. Are you sure we’re going the right way?” she asks,” Horologium said. Lucy was curled up inside him, taking a break from the walking. She’d explained before summoning him that she really didn’t want to go wading through the dirty swamp water.

““Happy says this is the way home, so this is the way we’re going,” is what I answer,” Natsu retorted, purposely mimicking Horologium’s way of communicating what Lucy said.

“Have some faith!” Happy admonished her. “I’m a cat; I have a great sense of smell! My nose will lead us home!”

“I would’ve thought Natsu’s dragon nose might be a bit better,” Makoto admitted, internally wincing at the cold feeling of water and mud seeping through his pants and shoes.

““It’s dogs that have great noses, and what does smell have to do with direction?” she asks quite haughtily,” Horologium said as they finally climbed out of the swamp and back onto solid ground.

“Why don’t you do your own walking for a while?” Natsu questioned.

““Because I’m tired,” she groans exhaustedly,” Horologium replied.

“You’re going to have to get used to walking long distances,” Makoto pointed out. It was exactly the reason why he was trekking along without much complaining. The fight with the mercenaries had gotten him thinking; if he was going to make some sort of living out of wizarding work, he’d have to start training, both physically and magically. Maybe, since he was a fellow Dragon Slayer, Natsu could give him some pointers.

They all stopped in their tracks when the bushes nearby rustled. Natsu was the first to react, demanding, “Who’s there?!” as he dumped his bag and pounced behind the bush.

““Do you always have to fight?!” she inquires worriedly,” Horologium said, holding out his hands for Happy to stand on as well as to hold Natsu’s bag.

“I’m beginning to realize that it’s his answer to everything,” Makoto commented as Natsu and another guy jumped out from behind the bush. Everyone blinked as they recognized the second guy.

“It’s the stripping guy from Fairy Tail!” Maya pointed out.

“His name’s Gray,” Makoto corrected. Admittedly, he did need a moment to recall what his name was, because ‘stripping guy’ was the exact nickname he’d remembered the wizard by.

““What is he doing in his underwear?” the lady questions,” Horologium said.

“Trying to find a bathroom!” Gray growled as an explanation.

“Why would you strip _before_ you found one?” Natsu questioned. “And who the heck heard of a bathroom in the middle of the forest?”

“I wanted some privacy. I didn’t expect an _idiot_ to barge in.”

“I didn’t barge in!”

“They’re so childish!” Lucy groaned, having left Horologium’s compartment since his time was up.

“She says to the cat!” Happy quipped.

Once they could get the brawling boys to settle down, they stopped and sat at the edge of a cliff over a large lake. Happy took the time to try and get some fishing done while everyone else chatted and got caught up with each other.

“So you’re on your way back from a job?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah,” Gray nodded. He gestured to the rest of the forest stretching on beneath the cliff. “There’s a shortcut through these woods that’ll get you back to town in no time.”

“See! I told you so!” Happy smugly said to Lucy.

“Yeah, well, if your nose is so great, why didn’t you know Gray was right in front of us, smart guy?” the blonde retorted.

“There are some things you don’t _want_ to smell,” he replied.

Gray started and turned to glare at the cat. “What’d you say?”

“I agree,” Natsu smirked and placed his hands behind his head. “So why don’t you go on home and we’ll smell ya later.”

“Natsu, there’s no need to be rude,” Makoto chided.

“Nah, I’ll go,” Gray said standing up. “And unless you want trouble, you should too.”

“Did something happen?” Maya wondered, before gasping and coming to her own conclusions. “Is there a super evil guild that’s coming to destroy us in a super awesome mega castle robot?!”

Everyone sweatdropped. “No…” Gray said slowly, not used to the tabby cat’s antics. “It’s ‘cause Erza’s due back anytime now.”

Natsu’s jaw dropped. Lucy gasped, _“The_ Erza? Whoa!” Makoto nervously scratched his cheek. From how the others reacted, this Erza person was probably some famous or important person related to Fairy Tail. Still, however, he couldn’t stop himself from impulsively asking, “Who’s Erza?”

Unsurprisingly to him, the two simple words received questioning and shocked looks from all nearby, save Maya, who already understood the reason behind his lack of knowledge. He coughed and mumbled, “I just… haven’t heard of her…”

“She’s the most powerful woman in all of Fairy Tail!” Happy told him as he bit his teeth into a fish he’d just caught.

“And what’s she like?” he inquired.

“Scary.”

Makoto, as well as Maya and Lucy, who knew of Erza but not what she was like, fell silent from the blunt response.

“Wild animal,” Gray began.

“A vile beast,” Natsu added.

“More like a full on _monster!”_ Happy summed up.

“A monster…?” Makoto echoed, unsure of whether it was fact or hyperbole. Besides, even if that was how the veteran Fairy Tail wizards felt about her, he knew from experience that just because someone seemed scary and tough, they could be sweet and kind and caring. Almost to a fault, in one depressing case. “Are you guys sure she’s that scary?”

“One thing we can agree on is that she’s _definitely_ that scary,” Gray said, and then paused. “Well, maybe a little scarier.”

“Yeah, she’s scary enough to kick down a whole mountain!” Natsu claimed.

“What?” Gray disagreed. “I guarantee you Erza could take down at least three mountains with a single kick!”

“You don’t need to exaggerate like that, Gray,” Happy cut in. “It’s more like two.”

“You know, guys, even if she’s able to kick down a _single_ mountain… That’s still scary,” Lucy whimpered.

“Like I said, we should get back,” Gray said, bringing the conversation back around to its starting point.

“Crap!” Natsu shouted, jumping to his feet. “Let’s get moving!” Abruptly an explosion of sand went off in the middle of the group, kicking up a ton of dust and burying everyone in sand. “What now?” Gray groaned at the interruption.

“Happy!” Natsu cried as he realized the light blue cat had disappeared.

Makoto searched around for any sign of his tabby friend. “Maya, where are you?!”

* * *

 

“Help me…” Happy begged as he and Maya were tied to a pole over an unlit fireplace. The two had been snatched up by a group of five wizards and taken to a small campsite not too far away. Two of the wizards looked like twins, one of them had a goblin-like appearance with green skin, one had dark hair, a depressed face, and an orb floating in his hand, and the final one was a giant chicken wearing overalls.

“We’re finally gonna get some real protein,” one of the twins said eagerly.

“No berries for us tonight,” the other one cheered.

“Meat!” the chicken cawed.

“Our future holds a feast,” the depressed one foretold.

“Wow, look at him shaking. Geez,” one of the twins said, pointing towards Happy who was trembling slightly.

“Relax,” the goblin said. “You’re gonna be in our bellies soon enough, so there’s no need to be scared. Take a page from your friend’s book.” Maya was slightly swinging around on the pole, humming some happy tune with a cheerful smile on her face.

“Actually, I’m not shaking like this because I’m scared,” Happy corrected with a wavering voice. “I gotta use the bathroom real bad. I can’t hold it much longer… And I bet you it’s gonna make me taste weird.”

“Who cares?” the goblin dismissed and gestured to the chicken. “Cook them!”

“Meat…” the chicken drooled as the end of his staff burst into fire.

The orb guy said, “I’ll have mine medium, please.”

“Hey, I’m serious!” Happy shouted. “It’s gonna make me taste funny; I just know it will…” The chicken was undeterred though, approaching even closer.

The sight of the fire snapped Maya back to reality and she yelled, “I’d be careful where I stick that if I were you, turkey man! If Makoto ever found out you tried to eat me, you’d be in a world of hurt!”

“Hold it right there!”

Maya smiled, as if expecting the outcome. “Oh look, there they are!”

Standing on a cliff overlooking the campsite was Natsu, Makoto, Gray, and Lucy. “Happy! Maya!” Lucy yelled.

“Thank goodness!” Happy cried out in relief. “Now I’m not going to taste weird!”

“Pipe down,” the goblin growled.

Natsu cracked his knuckles loudly. “Those’re our friends you’re trying to roast, buddy. Sorry, but you guys are going to have to make other plans for dinner.”

“You’re all wizards, aren’t you? What guild are you with?” Gray demanded.

The goblin sneered, “I’m not telling. Get them!”

“Gray, Makoto, let’s do it,” Natsu said.

“Right,” Makoto nodded, a feeling of protectiveness welling up inside of him. Maya was the first friend he made in this crazy place; they’d regret kidnapping her and Happy and trying to cook them. “Nobody messes with my cat.”

“All right,” Gray agreed. “But don’t go telling me what to do.” The twins and the chicken tried to launch a preemptive strike against the three Fairy Tail wizards, but they easily dodged out of the way of the attacks that were sent their way.

The goblin drove his fist into the ground, causing a magic circle to appear. _“Sand Bomb!”_ Makoto’s eyes widened as he found himself enveloped in a sphere of sand with no way out.

“Makoto!” Lucy cried out concernedly.

“Lucy, you need to go free Happy and Maya!” Gray shouted at her. She nodded and ran to the fire pit while Gray went up against the twins, easily disarming them and knocking them both out. He didn’t even have to resort to using his magic.

At the fire pit, Lucy had already untied Maya and moved onto Happy’s restraints. “Help! Lucy’s gonna eat me!” Happy wailed.

“Shut up, cat!” she yelled as she struggled with the knots. She flinched when she realized that the chicken had approached her and was about to whack her with his flaming stick. “Please don’t kill me, Mister Chicken!” she panicked.

They were saved when Natsu came flying in with a flaming fist, knocking out the chicken with a single punch. “Sorry,” he said, watching as Lucy finished with Happy’s restraints and they backed off away from the scuffle. “The only thing that’ll be cooked tonight is gonna be chicken wings.”

“Who’s next?” Gray asked, turning to the guy with the orb in his hand. The guy focused his power, causing the orb to glow brighter…

“You’ll see someone special, but the stars point to great trouble with water and women,” he told Gray.

“You telling my fortune?” he asked unbelievingly before he nailed the guy in the jaw with his elbow.

“He’s not even using magic…” Lucy breathed in awe, before screaming, “Put some clothes on!”

“Crap!”

The goblin gritted his teeth, realizing that his comrades had been taken out and he was the last one standing. “Where’d these brats come from anyway?” He was distracted when he heard a sucking sound coming from the sand sphere, and he turned to watch all of the sand disappear down Makoto’s throat.

Makoto let out a burp once he’d landed back on the ground. “Well, that was weird,” he remarked, unable to describe the taste of sand as it disappeared into his stomach. “Didn’t taste bad, but the texture was just funny.” He smiled as he pounded his fist into his palm. “Let’s rock. _Earth Dragon’s Seismic Fist!”_

* * *

 

“Don’t you think you might’ve gone overboard, Natsu?” Gray asked Natsu. Makoto pulled hard on the end of the rope, tying up all of the wizards to a tree with some extra rope they found nearby.

“So what if I did? We got the job done, and Makoto took out the last guy, no prob,” he replied, purposely looking in the opposite direction.

“Grow up already!” Gray said. “You’re an embarrassment to the guild!”

“What?! You shut up!”

 _“You_ shut up!”

“No, you!”

“No, you!”

“Put some clothes on already, would ya?!”

Makoto turned his attention away from the bickering duo when the goblin groaned, “Lulla…”

“What’s Lulla?” he pressed, leaning in towards him.

“Lulla… by… It’s…” he struggled.

Natsu and Gray paused their fight to listen in. “Lullaby?” Gray echoed.

“Incoming!” Happy yelled as they were all tossed aside by what seemed to be a large shadow racing across the ground. The shadow stretched out until it formed a hand, with the tied-up, panicking wizards right in the center. Then the hand closed into a fist and the wizards disappeared into it, along with a meter or two of the tree. Before the Fairy Tail wizards could even think about following after it, it zoomed off into the forest just as quickly as it had appeared.

“What was that?” Lucy questioned as they picked themselves up off the ground.

 _“Who_ was that?” Natsu amended.

“Whoever it was, they’re fast,” Gray noted. “I can’t even sense their presence anymore.”

Makoto turned to the hovering Maya, knowing that her ability to sense magic was probably a little bit stronger than the others. “Are you picking anything up?”

Maya shook her head. “Nope. They’re long gone.”

Makoto frowned at her, and then turned to the direction of where the shadow vanished to. “What was that about, anyway? What did they want with that group of wizards?”

“Lullaby…” Lucy murmured. Makoto exchanged glances with the rest of his friends. They couldn’t do anything to pursue the culprit now, but he got the feeling that the event would inevitably rear its head again and they would all be caught up in it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there goes the Everlue arc! Or the first arc... Idk, is the first four episodes even an arc? Whatever, now we have the Eisenwald/Lullaby arc! WHICH MEANS ERZA COMES YAY FAVE FT REDHEAD. THE TEAM IS COMING TOGETHER. Hopefully you'll enjoy the next arc as much/even more than the past few chapters :D
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	5. The Wizard in Armor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A certain redhead returns to Fairy Tail to drag certain wizards on a certain mission.

It was a morning like any other in Fairy Tail, with most of the wizards relaxing, drinking, and chatting to one another. That, of course, only meant it was a matter of time before a guild-wide brawl broke out. Makoto was stood in front of the request board, humming as he looked over all the different types of requests. He hoped to get out of there before the aforementioned brawl took place.

“There sure are a lot of them…” Makoto mumbled. “And the rewards vary a lot, too.”

“How about this one?” Maya chirped from her usual perch. She pointed a paw towards a job that would reward them 200,000 jewel if they managed to complete it.

Makoto peeked over at it and sweatdropped. “I’m not quite sure I can take on a volcano demon by myself. Let’s keep looking.”

He hated to admit it, but his financial state was less than ideal. After a week in Fiore, he’d made a grand total of no money—which was a shame, because he really needed some clothes better suited for wizarding and combat than his blazer and hoodie. The articles of clothing were left at the apartment he shared with Lucy, leaving him in his plain white t-shirt and black trousers, the latter of which were surprisingly easy to maneuver in.

A few restless nights and an afternoon or two of training his magic—more like just getting used to using it—had imparted a few lessons to him: his magical stamina improved over the course of the sessions, so he could use more magic for longer but he still tired easily. Additionally, as he’d noticed on his first day and first mission, his physical condition had enhanced, being more resilient to injuries and relatively more acrobatic. An example was when he and Natsu had fought the Vanish Brothers; at the time he hadn’t given it much thought, but he was surprised that he’d jumped so high in order to interrupt their Heaven and Earth technique thing. He chalked it up to adrenaline, but now that it was clearly a more permanent occurrence it could’ve been due to his coming to Fiore or his body’s adaptation to magic—and Dragon Slayer Magic, specifically. But he was just speculating; there was no hard evidence or anything.

Back on topic, though, he almost regretted not putting up more of an argument when it came to the reward from their first mission. Besides personal needs, he needed the money to help support himself; Lucy was handling the rent, which needed to be paid soon along with the starting payment Mira had mentioned before. Not to mention she was paying for food, furniture, supplies, and pretty much everything else as of late. The key word in his original statement being ‘almost’, and so he returned to his previous task of scanning the notice board for suitable job requests.

“You looking for a job?” Lucy inquired as she wandered over from the table that she’d been sitting at with Natsu and Happy.

Makoto nodded and gave a small, guilty smile. “I am kind of broke.”

“I’ve told you before, Makoto, you don’t need to feel bad for not paying for anything,” Lucy sighed. “You’ll get the money eventually, and I really don’t mind having you or Maya stay. Besides, you’re pretty much the only other sane person in Fairy Tail,” she pointed out dryly.

“If either of you do find a job you’re interested in taking on, let me know.” Mira approached the board as she spoke to them. She still had her waitress’s tray tucked away under her arm. “The master’s away at a conference in Clover, so I’m covering for him.”

“What kind of conference?” Lucy asked.

“One for guildmasters,” Mira explained. “Every once in a while, they get together to talk about the state of things. It’s like the Magic Council, but not…”

Makoto recalled the council being mentioned a few times to him before, one of which being during Makarov’s inspiring speech the day he joined. Maya gave him a brief explanation, but it couldn’t hurt to ask someone else for clarification. He supposed it would also give him the opportunity to know more about the guild’s structure. “Could you go into a bit more detail?”

Mira smiled. “Not a problem! Excuse me, Reedus? Could I borrow a light pen?”

“Oui,” the large-bellied man at the bar replied, pulling out a pen with a glowing tip. Makoto silently wondered what she was going to do with it, when the pen started leaving glowing lines in the air when she drew with it.

( _“Talk about next generation stuff,”_ ) Makoto inwardly gaped. ( _“And to think this place doesn’t even have things like TVs.”_ )

“The council—Era—is the most powerful organization in Earthland. It’s only one step below the government,” she elaborated as she drew out a diagram to help him understand. “The Fiore branch has ten members, and it’s their job to uphold all magical rules and regulations, and if a wizard breaks magic law, they would be tried by the council.”

With the pen, she pointed to the groups below Era in the diagram. “Then there are the different guildmaster leagues, which are local guilds that work together, and then the individual masters. It’s their job to pass on the decrees of the council. They also communicate with other guildmasters on a regular basis.”

“I guess you could say they’re the glue that holds all of us together,” Mira remarked, finishing her explanation of the council and guild groups. “Which is a pretty stressful job.”

Makoto took a moment to take in all of the information and sort it in his mind. “So the guilds are part of local groups, who answer to the Magic Council… Huh.” He made a small noise of understanding. “It seems complex, but I suppose the connections are simple when you think about it.”

“It’s important that we cooperate with one another; otherwise, our system would fall apart,” Mira told him.

“And then the guys in black would show up!” Natsu rasped in a creepy voice out of nowhere. Lucy and Maya let out loud yelps of shock. To his own credit, Makoto only jumped a little. After what he’d been through, it’d take more than that to scare him. “Haha, that was almost too easy!”

“You trying to give me a heart attack?” she huffed. The new Dragon Slayer was too preoccupied with trying to get Maya to loosen her grip on his hair to make some kind of comment.

“But seriously,” Mira continued. “The guys that Natsu is talking about exist. They’re the Dark Guilds; they’ve chosen not to join any of the leagues. They’re the bad apples, and most of them are involved in magical crime.”

Pulling the flying cat off of his head, Makoto nodded gratefully. “Okay, I think I understand all of that. Thanks for the help, Mira!” She laughed and nodded as she began to rub away the lines still floating in the air.

Natsu stuck his hands behind his head and asked, “Will one of you just pick a job already?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. What makes you think I’d want to do that?” Lucy queried.

“Well, we are a team now, aren’t we?” he pointed out.

“And we picked the job last time. It’s you guys’ turn to pick, so get to it!” Happy commanded.

“Forget it, cat.” Lucy folded her arms across her chest in irritation. “As far as I’m concerned, our team has been disbanded.”

“Didn’t you enjoy working with them a few days ago?” Maya inquired.

“They destroyed an entire mansion!” Lucy shouted. “Besides, they only needed me because I’m a blonde!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Natsu objected. “That’s not the only reason we chose you. We picked you ‘cause you’re so nice!”

Lucy stared at him suspiciously in response. Happy floated over to Makoto and asked, “Are you gonna stick with us?”

It was tempting. Natsu was definitely strong, and he knew he could learn a lot from the fellow Dragon Slayer. There was the drawback that reward money might be cut back due to property damage… “I dunno; I might do,” he ended up replying, his tone unsure and hesitant. “I don’t really want to be making commitments I can’t keep…”

“Hey Lucy, Makoto!” Gray called over from his table nearby. “I wouldn’t stay with those losers if I were you. You’ll get plenty of offers from other teams.”

“Your clothes, Gray?” Cana prompted from the other side of the table. Gray freaked out when he realized he was in his underwear again.

“Jerk!” Natsu called. In an instant, the two of them were in each other’s faces.

“Did you just call me a jerk, dragon boy?!” Gray demanded.

“And what if I did? What are you gonna do about it?!”

“You mouth-breather!”

“At least I’m not a coward!”

“You’re a spineless wimp!”

“Looks like they’re at it again,” Happy commented.

Maya giggled. “When are they not?”

Meanwhile, Loke had appeared and wrapped an arm around Lucy’s shoulders, offering, “Why don’t you join the Team of Love with me, Lucy? Later tonight? Just the two of us?”

“Do what?” she stammered.

“You’re just so stunningly gorgeous, I have to keep my shades on when I look at you,” Loke flirted. “Or I’ll be blinded by your dazzling beauty.”

“Girls really fall for this?” Lucy asked deadpanned as she shifted slightly, causing her keys to jingle together on their ring. Loke immediately backed off a few feet.

“You’re not a Celestial Wizard, are you?!” he screamed, changing his tune.

“Yeah, she’s got cows and crabs and stuff!” Happy told him.

“GAAH! Curse you, fate! Why must you toy with me so?! I’m sorry, but you and I can’t be together, my dear!” Loke shouted as he made a beeline for the door and bolted out of the guild.

( _“Well, that was weird. Par for the course at Fairy Tail, I guess.”_ ) It didn’t stop him from turning to Mira in confusion and curiosity. “What’s with him?”

“Loke has a bad history with Celestial Wizards,” she told him and Lucy. “Rumor has it he dated one, and it didn’t end very well.”

“Well, I’m not surprised. He—Waah!” Lucy shrieked as Natsu crashed into her and brought them both to the ground. Makoto took a step back from them as they passed him.

“That looked painful,” Mira cheerfully commented.

“Would the two of you just knock it off already?” Lucy growled from her position under the pink-haired boy.

“Natsu started it; I’m just following through,” Gray blamed.

“Where are your clothes?” Cana asked as she drunk from her mug.

“Gah!” Gray panicked in response, eyes darting around for any trace of his pants or shirt. “How does this keep happening?!”

“You’re the one who was provoking me, ya dirty slimeball,” Natsu retorted when he got up.

Instantly, Gray gave up on his quest for clothes. “Oh yeah? And what exactly did I do to provoke you, ya fire clown?”

“You pervy flasher!”

“Pink-haired punk!”

“Lame insults, guys,” Lucy called to them as they continued to throw abuse at each other. “They start to run out,” Happy chimed in.

“Is that all you’ve got?!” Gray demanded.

“Pretty much!”

Everyone in the guild started laughing at the two rival’s petty fight, and Lucy even managed a small smile of her own. Maya sat atop Makoto’s head, clapping in amusement. Makoto beamed; it was one of the things he’d grown to enjoy about the guild so far. They could get into scuffles all day long and the worst injuries would be bruised egos. All of the Fairy Tail wizards were such good friends with each other—even if they refused to admit it.

All of a sudden, Loke burst back into the guild hall with the loud sound of the door hitting the wall. The gathered wizards fell silent as he panted, catching his breath before yelling, “We got bad news!” Murmurs broke out around the guild hall, with everyone speculating about what might be wrong. Makoto felt his smile shrivel away; his mind flashed back to Hope’s Peak, to when all the students would finally be enjoying themselves, only for their teddy bear warden to crush everything to pieces.

He shook his head to rid himself of the memories. ( _“I’m not in Hope’s Peak anymore; none of that stuff is going to happen again. It’s nothing terrible… It’s nothing terrible…”_ ) He listened with bated breath, struggling to keep himself from freaking out as Loke finally announced, “It’s Erza. She’s on her way here!”

Everyone instantly started screaming at the news, running around the hall in a panic. Even Natsu and Gray paused in their fight, freezing up in place and going pale.

“What a reaction…” Makoto remarked, letting out an almost silent sigh of relief. The news of Erza’s arrival wasn’t as bad as what he was imagining, but he still needed to convince himself that it wasn’t as bad as everyone was making it out to be. With everyone in hysterics, it was harder to reassure himself that nothing was wrong.

“Wow,” Lucy said. “Just mention Erza and the whole place freaks out.”

“Well, she is the strongest female wizard we’ve got in Fairy Tail,” Mira pointed out. “And more than a bit intimidating.” As if by command, all of the wizards abruptly stopped, ceasing all sound and activity. In the tense silence that followed, Makoto could pick up the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the guild hall.

“That’s gotta be her.”

“They sound like her footsteps.”

“Even the air’s gone completely still.”

“Geez, from these reactions, you’d think she was a demon or something,” Lucy said before turning pale and sweating. “I’m so scared!” she squeaked.

A shape entered the guild hall, carrying some kind of large object. When it slammed down on the ground with an echoing crash, Makoto finally got a good look at the Erza that everyone was terrified of. She had long scarlet hair and wore metal armor over her torso that had the Fairy Tail guild mark on it underneath a golden cross design. She also wore a blue skirt and black boots.

The woman in metal swept her gaze around the hall. “I have returned. Where is Master Makarov?” she inquired.

“Wow, she’s pretty…” Lucy commented quietly.

“Welcome back, Erza!” Mira smiled. “The master’s at a conference right now.”

Erza nodded in understanding. “I see.”

“So, uh,” one of the wizards near her stammered. “What’s that humungous thing you’ve got there?”

“It’s the horn of a monster I defeated,” she answered. “The locals were so thankful that they decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir. Do you have a problem with it?” Her tone become slightly harsher with the question and the surrounding wizards immediately replied, “No! Not at all!”

“Everyone’s really afraid of her, aren’t they…?” Makoto’s eyes wandered to the large horn she’d carried in. With one hand. Practically effortlessly. “That horn is big, though… Maybe they have good reason.”

“I bet she’s heard about what happened at Mount Hakobe,” Cana sang as she chugged a barrel of alcohol.

“You think so?” Macao whispered. “Oh man, I’m a goner.”

“Now, listen up!” Everyone froze when Erza raised her voice. “While I was on the road, I heard a few things. Word is, Fairy Tail is causing nothing but trouble as of late. Master Makarov may not care, but I most certainly do!”

One by one, she turned to various members of Fairy Tail, telling them off before relentlessly moving onto her next victim. “Cana, you need to start controlling your drinking. Veejita, please take the dancing outside. Wakaba, get rid of that filthy habit! Nab, I suspected I’d find you dawdling in front of the request board. Just pick a job! Macao!”

The blue-haired man froze as he was suddenly addressed. All Erza could do after a moment was sigh, much to the man’s distress. “I don’t even know where to begin with you… You cause so much trouble, I’ve almost given up.”

“She’s really tearing into everyone…” Lucy noted in a hushed voice. “It’s like she’s taking over!”

“That’s Erza for ya!” Happy responded.

“Even if she’s kind of bossy, she’s still saner than anyone else here,” Lucy remarked. “Well, excluding you, Makoto.”

Makoto gave a weak, weary smile. “Glad you remembered me,” he replied.

“I don’t get why everyone’s so afraid of her, though,” she continued.

“Are Natsu and Gray here?” Erza asked and looked around the hall. “Aye!” Happy said and then pointed to where the two were.

“Oh, hey there Erza,” Gray greeted nervously, arm slung around Natsu. “We’re just hanging out, like good friends tend to do.”

“Aye!” Natsu added, practically sweating bullets.

Makoto blinked in surprise. Not even five minutes ago, they were at each other’s throats, ready to initiate the day’s guild-wide fight. And yet, all it took for them to act—very badly, if he might add—like the best of friends was Erza turning her attention to them. “She’s good,” he noted.

“That’s great. I’m quite pleased to see the two of you getting along so well.” Erza nodded as if she approved. “However, it’s only natural for even the best of friends to lock horns every now and again.”

“I don’t know if we’re the best of friends…” Gray trailed off.

“Aye!” Natsu nodded, apparently unable to say anything else.

“What’s gotten into Natsu?” Lucy questioned, completely baffled by the change in behavior from the both of them.

“He’s scared. A few years ago, he challenged Erza to a fight and she beat him up pretty bad,” Mira informed them, having also drawn a quick picture of said event with the light pen from earlier.

“Silly Natsu!” Maya laughed.

“After that, she found Gray walking around naked, so she decided to beat him up, too,” Macao took over.

“And let’s not forget she also beat up Loke for trying to hit on her,” Cana added. “He totally deserved it, though.”

“Yeah, can’t say I blame her,” Lucy shrugged.

“Natsu, Gray, I need you to do me a favor,” Erza instructed. The two of them stood up a little straighter at that. “While traveling, I overheard something that has me worried. Normally, I would consult with the master before acting, but he’s not here and this is a matter of utmost urgency. The two of you are the strongest wizards here; I could really use your help.”

Not only were Natsu and Gray surprised, but the entire guild burst into hushed whispers about how bizarre the occurrence was and how Erza hardly ever asked for help. “We’ll meet at the train station tomorrow morning,” she finished.

Natsu and Gray stared each other down for a few moments. It was clear that neither of them wanted to even think about working together. Natsu apparently couldn’t handle the thought of teaming up with him so much that he jumped over to Makoto. He slung his arm around his shoulders and desperately told Erza, “If you want someone strong, you should take Makoto instead of me! He’s a Dragon Slayer, too, so you won’t even be able to tell the difference!”

“A Dragon Slayer, you say?” Erza looked intrigued by the information. “You said your name was Makoto?”

“Uh, yeah,” he answered. He was still caught off-guard from the sudden shift of attention, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t like the direction the conversation was taking. The atmosphere and everyone else’s reactions were starting to make _him_ feel a little nervous. “I just joined around about a week ago…”

“I see. Makoto, you’ll accompany Gray, Natsu and me tomorrow.” Natsu was practically reduced to tears when he realized that his plan to get out of the job pretty much backfired on him. “Do you have a problem with this?”

“A problem?” Makoto stammered. He wished that Natsu would get off of his shoulders; he wasn’t helping with his nerves. “N-No, it should be fine…”

“I’ll see you all tomorrow then,” Erza nodded as she walked back to the horn and easily picked it up with one hand, exiting the guild. Once she left, everyone gave out a huge sigh of relief.

“What the hell, man?” Makoto demanded as soon as Natsu let go of him. “Could you be _any_ less concerned about how I feel? Why don’t you _ask_ the next time before volunteering me for something?”

“Damn it…” Natsu moaned, apparently oblivious to Makoto’s annoyance. “Now I gotta work with the stripper…!”

“Erza, Natsu, Gray… Even Makoto, who’s just a newcomer… I never saw that one coming,” Mira admitted. Lucy watched as she gave a tiny gulp. “This could be the most powerful team Fairy Tail’s ever seen!”

* * *

 

“GRAAAGH!” The next morning, Natsu’s frustrated shout echoed around Magnolia’s train station as he got into Gray’s face. “I hate this! Teaming up with you is the worst idea ever!”

“Yeah, tell me about it! Erza made a huge mistake, asking a loser like you to come along!” Gray snapped back. The two arguing wizards were beginning to draw in a curious crowd with their yelling and shouting.

“Fine! Then why don’t you just take care of it yourself; I don’t wanna go anyway!”

“Sounds like a plan to me! Then I’ll get to watch her beat you senseless!”

“Let’s just sit over here and pretend we don’t know them…” Lucy suggested. She was sat on a bench a short distance away with her suitcase by her side and her ever-shivering spirit Plue on her lap. Makoto, who hadn’t brought a suitcase considering he had nothing to bring along, sat next to her with Maya on his lap, purring from the petting and attention she was receiving.

Makoto nodded his head in agreement while giving a small chuckle. “I think I like that plan.”

“What made you decide to come with us?” Happy inquired.

“Mira asked me to tag along,” she answered. “She said that they’d be at each other’s throats when Erza wasn’t looking, so she wanted me to help Makoto stop them.”

Happy glanced over to Gray and Natsu, still yelling and name-calling. “You two aren’t doing a very good job…”

“They’re hopeless,” Lucy shrugged.

“The last time I tried to stop a fight, I was unconscious for the rest of the day,” Makoto retold. He wouldn’t put it past the two wizards to strike out at him if he tried to intervene. He wasn’t very eager to have a repeat incident, no matter how much stronger he was due to his magic compared to back then.

The two wizards’ attentions were drawn when Erza’s voice echoed in the somewhat busy station. “Sorry I’m late. Have you been waiting long?”

“No, not really,” Lucy responded as they turned towards her… and she stopped. Behind Erza was a large wooden wagon that had at least twenty suitcases piled on top of each other. A few onlookers looked at the tower of belongings that threatened to burst from the rope that held it down.

“Look at that luggage!” Happy yelled.

“All of those belong to you?!” Lucy questioned.

“It’s time to go, good buddy!” Gray announced as he swung an arm around Natsu’s shoulder and vice versa, acting like best buddies the instant that Erza came into view. “Aye!” Natsu laughed.

Lucy yelled at the two, “Listen, one Happy is enough!”

“Good,” Erza said. “I really love to see the two of you getting along. And what was your name?” she asked as she turned her attention to Lucy. “I believe I saw you at the guild yesterday.”

“I’m Lucy, and I joined Fairy Tail the same time as Makoto,” she answered as she stood up. “Mira asked me to come along with you guys so I could learn a thing or two. I hope that’s okay with you.”

“The more the merrier. I’m Erza,” she introduced. “Wait, you’re the girl I heard about.” Erza briefly stopped in the conversation to look over her shoulder at Natsu and Gray. They immediately changed from their fighting stances to jumping around with arms on their shoulders. When she turned back around they were at each other’s throats again, predictably. “I was told that you defeated a mercenary gorilla using only your pinky finger. It’ll be great to have a wizard like you on board; thanks for your help.”

When Erza looked back over towards Natsu and Gray, Makoto held back a chuckle and poked Lucy’s arm teasingly, amused from the embellished tale. “Oh, no, it’s my pleasure…” Lucy said to Erza nervously when she turned back.

Erza blinked when she felt a weight descend on her head. “Wow, your head’s really comfy!” Maya complimented. “It’s not like Makoto’s at all; his little spiky hair thing always tickles my stomach when I land on it!”

“Maya!” Makoto scolded, mortified by the tabby cat’s actions. His face went red with embarrassment as he carefully plucked her from Erza’s head. “I am so sorry, Erza…”

“It’s not a problem,” she smiled as she looked at Maya who’d just unfurled her wings. “So you’re like Happy, are you? What’s your name?”

“Maya’s my name!” she chirped. “I met Makoto a while back; he gave me that name! He’s really nice, don’t ya think?”

“I’ll have plenty of opportunities to find that out for myself,” Erza noted as Maya flew back to hover around Makoto.

“Hey Erza,” Natsu called, prompting the redhead to turn towards him. “I’ll come with you, but only under one condition.”

“Shut up!” Gray hissed at him.

“Oh?” Erza made an interested noise. “Well then, let’s hear it.”

Natsu grinned as he clenched his fist. “Right, well first I wanted a rematch with you, but I changed my mind! I wanna fight Makoto first when we get back to Fairy Tail!”

Makoto stared at the pink-haired boy in surprise. “Wait, what?!”

“Come on!” he encouraged. Makoto could see excitement filling every fiber of his being just from the thought of it. “We’re both Dragon Slayers; it was practically meant to happen!”

“Well, Makoto?” Erza asked. “What’s your answer?”

“I don’t know…” he hummed unsurely. Honestly, he didn’t like his chances against the more experienced Dragon Slayer. And, knowing the rest of the guild, he’d have a massive audience to watch him get beaten to a pulp. That wasn’t exactly something to look forward to.

Makoto turned his head when he noticed Maya fly closer to him and give him a peace sign with her paw and a massive encouraging grin. “Well… Okay,” he agreed. What was there to lose? Besides, he could always do with some magic practice. “Let’s do it.”

“It’ll be an interesting match, for sure,” Erza remarked. “I can tell that you’ve gotten stronger, Natsu.”

Makoto deflated as he heard that. It didn’t sound too supportive in his favor. “I’m definitely going to regret this…” he muttered to Maya, who gave a little giggle.

“Oh yeah!” Natsu shouted in anticipation, breathing out a small stream of fire. “I’m all fired up!”

Once the train arrived, they all got on board and stored away their luggage—just barely fitting in Erza’s case—and took their seats as the train began to chug along the tracks to Onibas. As soon as the train started moving, Natsu and Makoto instantly fell victim to their motion sickness.

“I swear, you’re totally pathetic, Natsu,” Gray insulted, sitting by the window next to the two Dragon Slayers. Lucy, Happy, Maya and Erza sat on the other seats facing them, with Plue still sitting in Lucy’s lap. “One minute you’re picking a fight, and the next you’re like this.”

“It’s gotta be tough on them, getting from place to place,” Lucy noted sympathetically.

“Don’t worry; I have an idea,” Erza smiled softly. “Come here and sit with me, boys.”

The two barf bags consented, stumbling over to the other bench while Lucy and the two cats swapped places with them. Erza put her arm around Natsu, who sat to her right, while Makoto was draped over the seat to her left. “Now just relax…” she said softly.

“Aye…”

Her left arm moved and she nailed Natsu in the stomach, causing him to collapse into her lap. Before Makoto could properly process what was happening, Erza’s arm extended and swung straight into his own stomach, effectively knocking both of them out from the pain.

“There,” Erza said, adjusting Makoto slightly so that he wouldn’t fall off the seat. The others stared at her in shock. “That should make the trip a little easier on them.” Maya squeaked and zoomed over to make sure Makoto was okay. After a few seconds of checking him over, she plopped herself down on his lap, unwilling to move from her best friend.

Gray shifted his gaze from the scenery back to the redhead. “Erza, I think it’s about time you started filling us in. I mean, what kind of mission are we going on?”

“Of course,” Erza nodded and then launched into the mission briefing. “I have reason to believe the dark guild Eisenwald is planning something big. I’m not sure what exactly, but it has to do with a magic item called Lullaby.”

That caught the attention of the others. “Lullaby?” they repeated.

“Oh, I remember, yup yup!” Maya perked up. “It was that thing from the other day with the ambush and the sand and the chicken man and the shadow hand—”

Lucy and Gray interrupted in order to fully explain to the curious Erza the exact events that took place. Once they’d finished recounting their tale, Erza looked down with her eyes closed in thought. “I see. So you’ve run into the Eisenwald guild before…”

“Well, I’m not sure if they were part of Eisenwald,” Gray corrected. “But they did mention Lullaby.”

“It sounds like they were members who’d dropped out of the guild and gone into hiding,” she guessed. “Perhaps they wanted no part of whatever it is that’s coming.”

“So this thing is so bad it even scares dark wizards?” Gray asked.

“I’m only hypothesizing…” Erza started. “But whoever you saw dragging off Happy and Maya’s kidnappers that day must’ve been from Eisenwald. It’s obvious that they didn’t want their plans getting out.”

Lucy looked to her worriedly. “What do you think they’re gonna try?”

“Let me start from the beginning…” Erza explained to the rest of them that she’d stopped by a pub in Onibas on the way back from a job. While she was there she heard a group of wizards making a fuss about something and did a bit of eavesdropping. She had managed to overhear that a wizard called Kage was telling the rest of his group to inform someone called Erigor that he’d return with the sealed away Lullaby in three days.

“Lullaby…” Maya hummed. “I don’t think I’ve ever been sung a lullaby. Hey, maybe when this is over, I should ask Makoto to sing me something! Or maybe even read me a bedtime story!”

Erza glanced towards the eccentric cat at her random statement. She looked back towards the others as she continued, “The fact that it had been sealed away means that it must be very powerful magic.”

“You sure the guys you saw at the pub were with Eisenwald?” Gray pressed.

“Yes,” she responded. “I can’t believe I was such a fool that day. I didn’t recognize his name… Erigor, the ace of Eisenwald. He only accepts assassination requests, which is why he’s earned the name: Erigor the Reaper.”

“He _kills_ for money?!” Lucy gasped.

“When the council outlawed assassination requests, Eisenwald decided that money was more important than the council’s rules. As a result, they were kicked out of their wizard league six years ago.” A dark look appeared in Erza’s eyes. “But that didn’t stop them. They’ve disobeyed orders and remained active to this day.”

Lucy was becoming more scared and nervous as Erza went on, until she eventually said, “Okay, I should be heading back home now.”

“Lucy’s slimy all of a sudden!” Happy announced, who was sat right next to her.

“It’s sweat!”

“How could I have been so careless?” Erza snarled, slamming a fist down onto Natsu’s head, causing him to wince in his unconscious state. “If only I recognized Erigor’s name that day, I could have pulverized them! I could’ve forced them to reveal their scheme to me!”

“She’s scary!” Lucy whimpered.

“So if I’ve got this…” Gray paused before he summarized, “Eisenwald’s planning to do something with this Lullaby and you want to stop them, because after what you overheard, you’re sure it’s going to be something bad.”

“That’s correct,” Erza nodded. “And I’m not foolish enough to believe that I can take on an entire magical guild all by myself. That’s why I asked you all for your help.” She scanned her eyes over all of them. “We’re storming the Eisenwald guild.”

“Sounds like fun to me,” Gray smirked.

Maya clapped. “Everyone sure loves Plan T, yup yup!”

“Aye!”

“I shouldn’t have come along,” Lucy commented, squeezing tightly on Plue.

“Ew! Now you’re super slimy!”

“I told you; it’s sweat!”

The train made a brief stop in order to refuel and take care of other matters, so the Fairy Tail wizards took advantage of the opportunity and grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch, taking into consideration the fact that they’d most likely not have time later. Makoto and Natsu were both still out cold, so the others neglected to pick up some food for them.

“If you don’t mind, what kind of magic do you practice, Erza?” Lucy inquired as she finished a bite of her sandwich.

“That’s a good question,” Erza approved.

“Erza’s magic is really pretty!” Happy complimented. “She makes her enemies bleed. _A lot.”_

“I don’t know if I’d call that ‘pretty’…” Lucy sweatdropped.

Erza took a bite out of her strawberry cake. “Personally, I think Gray’s magic is much more beautiful than mine.”

“Oh, you mean like this?” He held out his fist and placed it above his open palm. As his magic activated, a cool mist hissed out from his hands, and when he opened his fist he revealed a tiny ice replica of the Fairy Tail mark.

“Prettyyy~!” Maya cooed, dropping her chocolatey treat so that it landed on Makoto’s lap.

“I use Ice Magic,” he said as the ice creation floated off of his palm towards Lucy, who laughed with delight at the little trick.

“Not just any normal Ice Magic!” Maya added, recognizing the specific type. “It’s Maker Magic, isn’t it?”

“That’s right,” he nodded towards the cat.

“Ah!” Lucy let out a tiny gasp as an epiphany hit her. “Now I understand why you and Natsu don’t get along: he’s fire and you’re ice! Talk about not mixing very well.”

“I never thought about that,” Erza smiled.

“Nah,” Gray shrugged. “I just hate his guts.”

“And Makoto is a Dragon Slayer, correct?” she inquired.

“Yeah,” Lucy answered. “He said he’s an Earth Dragon Slayer.”

“He has a dragon’s roar and a dragon’s fist…” Gray recalled and then grimaced. “It’s like having another Natsu around, although luckily he’s more tolerable.”

“So was he also raised by a dragon, then?” Erza asked.

“Well…” Lucy bit her lip. “He wouldn’t say, but it sounded like he was. Maya, has he told you anything about his dragon?”

Maya hesitated as she was about to throw her chocolate food she’d picked up back into her mouth. She paused and gave it some thought. Deciding that it would be better to discuss a cover story when Makoto was awake—and she couldn’t come up with an excuse—she ate her food and mumbled, “Yup yup, but he’d probably want to say so himself, so you gotta ask him.”

The train soon arrived at Onibas Station, and so they departed and walked down the platform, Maya and Happy riding on Erza’s giant wagon of bags. “You think the Eisenwald guys are still going to be in this town?” Gray asked Erza.

“I have no idea,” she replied. “That’s what we’re here to find out.”

“I’m still thinking maybe I should go home…” Lucy remarked.

“Hold on. Where’s Natsu?” Happy pointed out.

Maya scanned her surroundings for a familiar brown-haired boy. “And where’s Makoto?”

The humans of the group did the same, glancing around for either of the Dragon Slayers. And then, as if the realization dawned on them at the same time, they all turned to look at the train that was slowly getting smaller and smaller.

“Uh oh, there he goes.” Happy waved after the train, seemingly unconcerned.

“Makoto, silly, why’d you stay on the train?!” Maya shouted as if he could hear her. “I thought you hated vehicles!”

“I was so busy talking, I forgot about them!” Erza admitted. “I am such a fool! Natsu hates all forms of transportation, and if it’s a trait that Dragon Slayers share, then Makoto is most likely the same! This is my fault; I need one of you to come and hit me for my penance!”

Everyone present blanched. “That’s a little much…” Lucy sighed.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, back on the train, Makoto and Natsu had regained consciousness, only to immediately become motion sick after realizing they were still aboard. Groaning and unable to move, Makoto sat nearer to the window while Natsu was to his left, unmoved from the seat where they’d been knocked out.

Makoto felt so disorientated. The last thing he could remember was Erza suggesting a solution to their motion sickness and then everything jarringly fading to black. The others were gone as well; even both of the Dragon Slayer’s feline partners were nowhere to be seen, an odd occurrence considering Natsu and Happy were always together whenever Makoto saw them, and since the day she fell from the sky, Maya hadn’t left his side once. Coupled with the nauseating feeling taking over him, Makoto’s day could be going better.

The door to the carriage slid open as someone in a white outfit approached. He sneered at them. “Well, lookie here, Fairy Tail wizards,” he remarked, noticing the emblems emblazoned on their arms. He leaned on the backrest of the seat opposite them. “How’s the guild treating you these days? Is it worth sticking around?”

Natsu glanced up, barely able to mutter a, “What…?” before the guy’s boot was shoved into his face. “Don’t act all high and mighty just ‘cause you’re in a legal guild, Mister Fairy!” he spat. “You guys who just blindly follow the Magic Council; know what you look like to us? Harmless little _flies!”_

“Back off…!” Makoto yelled as he stumbled to his feet. His stomach flipped and gurgled in response to the movement, ruining the effectiveness of his shout and the grace of his movement. The guy laughed as he lowered his foot and backed away from the duo. Natsu got to his feet and his hands lit on fire.

“Guess I hit a nerve,” the guy noticed.

“Why you—! Hrmphlf!” Natsu choked back his stomach fluids when the train gave a small jolt, unintentionally extinguishing his fists. Makoto felt the effects of the sudden movement as well, throwing a hand out onto the seat to balance himself.

“Hah! What kind of magic is that?” the guy mocked. “Let me show you how it’s done!” A black magic circle appeared beneath him, glowing an eerie purple, before his shadow extended and lashed out as black fists at Natsu and Makoto, throwing them back onto the floor and into the windowsill respectively. “It’s all in the follow-through,” he sniggered.

“That magic…” Natsu muttered, recognizing the shadowy magic from the day before. Abruptly the train screeched to a halt, sending the three wizards tumbling back to the ground. A wooden flute with a strange three-eyed skull design clattered on the floor, dropped by their mysterious attacker.

“We’ve stopped…” Makoto breathed, feeling the queasiness from earlier start to vanish. ( _“At least now we’re not just sitting ducks.”_ ) He blinked as he noticed the flute lying on the floor. “The hell is that?”

“Heck if I know,” Natsu responded as he’d spotted it too.

“You saw it…” the Shadow Wizard groaned as he recovered from his fall.

“That’s enough out of you,” Natsu growled, fist lighting on fire. “It’s payback time! _Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”_

 _“Guard Shadow!”_ their opponent reacted quickly, throwing up a barrier of shadow tendrils to protect himself. Comprehending the events that would most likely follow a moment before they happened, Makoto quickly leaped over the back of the seats to take cover on the other side. The resulting explosion engulfed the entire carriage, demolishing most of the seats and ripping a gash in the roof of the cart.

“Lucky shot…” he uttered, knocked back from the collision.

“Little fly, huh?” Natsu smirked.

 _“ **Attention, passengers,** ” _a computerized voice emitted from the miraculously working loudspeakers. _“ **Our emergency stop was a false alarm. We’ll be departing again shortly.** ”_

The Fairy Tail wizards paled, realizing they were out of time. “Oh, crap! Makoto, we gotta go!” Natsu yelled as he grabbed his bag from the upper storage shelf and Makoto moved to slide open a window.

“Hold it right there!” the Shadow Wizard objected. “I’m not letting you get away that easily. You’re messing with Eisenwald now.”

“Oh, so you’re with Eisenwald, huh? I’ll show you what happens to people who knock Fairy Tail!” Natsu threatened.

“…Is what he’d normally do, but we need to get out of here before—!” Makoto was interrupted in his attempt to pull Natsu off the train when said vehicle jerked as it began moving again. The duo winced. “That happens…”

Makoto pulled on Natsu’s arm as he approached the window and got prepared to jump out of the gradually accelerating train, but stopped dead when he realized that something was approaching them at high speeds.

“Is that a car…?” he questioned to himself as it sped up.

“Move!” Makoto felt a shove from behind and fell out of the train, falling straight on top of Erza, who was driving, while Natsu collided with Gray on top when he’d jumped out. Losing control of the vehicle, Erza quickly brought it to a stop before they crashed.

“S-Sorry!” Makoto stammered, scrambling to get off of the redhead.

“Are you two all right?” Erza inquired.

“Aye…” Natsu responded weakly as he and Gray had been knocked off of the car.

“That hurt, you idiot!” Gray yelled at him as everyone else clambered out of the vehicle.

“Shut up, you icy freak!” he retorted and then turned on everyone else. “How come you guys left me and Makoto on the train?!”

“Makoto, I’m so sorryyy!” Maya wailed as she attached herself to the side of his head. “I swear I didn’t mean to forget you! I promise I’ll never leave you behind again!”

“Water under the bridge, right?” Makoto comforted. He paused as his hand brushed against the leg of his pants. “Why is there a chocolate stain on my trousers?” Maya sweatdropped and wisely remained silent.

“I’m just glad that neither of you were injured,” Erza sighed with relief. “I apologize, Natsu, Makoto.” She reached out with her arm and brought Natsu in for a hug—except she forgot that she was wearing armor and all that accomplished was giving him a headache. Makoto took a couple steps backward in response. He could do without the headache, honestly. Maybe if Maya just kept clinging to his head…

“Well, I’m shaken up pretty bad. We got attacked by this weirdo on the train,” Natsu complained, rubbing his head.

“Are you serious?” Lucy said.

“I think it’s the dude who dragged away the guys who were going to eat Happy and Maya,” he continued and then closed his eyes in thought. “Hmm… Hey, Makoto, what was that other thing he said? Somethin’ about eyes and walls…”

“You mean Eisenwald?” Makoto corrected.

Erza’s eyes widened and she backhanded both of them across the cheek with one swing. “You fools! That is exactly who we’re chasing after on this mission; why did you let him get away?!”

“H-Hey!” Maya objected, trying to stand up for her friend. “Don’t hit Makoto!” A glare from the furious redhead was enough to send her cowering behind her partner’s back, who had been knocked to the floor along with Natsu.

“We’re chasing after Eisenwald?” Makoto echoed questioningly.

“This is the first I’ve heard about it!” Natsu protested.

“I explained everything on the train! You should listen when people talk to you!” she berated the two, failing to recall a certain important detail.

“She already forgot that she knocked them out, didn’t she?” Lucy stated quietly to Gray and Happy. “This woman is unbelievable.”

“Yep,” the Ice Wizard agreed.

“That’s Erza for ya!”

Having finished with her lecture, Erza returned to the driver’s seat and fastened some sort of band to her arm. “So he was on the same train we were on… Let’s find him!”

“What was this guy like?” Gray asked as the car started up.

“He didn’t look like someone from a dark guild,” Natsu recalled.

“He dropped this creepy flute thing back on the train,” Makoto told them. “It had a skull design on it, but with three eyes. He seemed really nervous when we got a look at the thing.”

“That _is_ creepy,” Gray agreed.

“A three-eyed skull?” Lucy repeated, seemingly recognizing it.

“Is there something wrong, Lucy?” Happy asked.

“Yup yup, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Maya noted. She paused for a moment. “Or Gray when he’s butt naked.”

“Hey!”

“It’s just…” she trailed off. “I’ve heard about that flute before. Lullaby… The cursed song… It’s Death Magic!”

“What?!”

Makoto felt something grip at his heart. ( _“Death Magic… Such a thing really exists here?!”_ )

“A cursed song?” Gray parroted. “Like an incantation?”

“I’ve only ever read about them in books, but… There are some deadly spells out there that are forbidden to be used by wizards,” she remembered.

“That’s right.” Erza’s grip tightened on the car’s control stick. “There are cursed black magic spells that will kill the person they’re used on.”

“Well, if I’m right, Lullaby is even worse!” Lucy grimaced. “It used to only be able to cast simple curses, but then apparently someone got their hands on it and turned it into a flute that would kill anyone that heard its song!”

“Just by hearing its song…?” Makoto breathed in shock. “But… They could massacre hundreds of people!”

“Everyone, into the Magicmobile!” Erza commanded. “We need to catch up to them right away!” They all hurried and climbed into the back compartment of the car—or Magicmobile, as Makoto corrected in his head—with the exceptions of Makoto and Natsu, who hesitated, and Gray, who crawled onto the roof since there was no more space and he didn’t want to be anywhere near the nauseous Dragon Slayers.

Erza floored it instantly, shooting off along the train tracks with an astonishing speed. Makoto and Natsu groaned and winced every time they went over the tiniest of bumps, which caused them to fly into the air at the speed they were traveling at.

“Hey! Slow down, Erza!” Gray shouted after they’d sailed off a slight cliff and bounced along the mountainous path before hurtling away again. “You’re using up too much of your power driving this thing!”

“I have no choice but to press onward!” Erza called back. “We’re running out of time! If Erigor gets his hands on this Death Magic, trust me; lives will be lost!” The Magicmobile put on another burst of speed, racing to reach Eisenwald before they could enact their plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random useless fun fact, but I spent like five minutes searching official artwork to see if I could see any hint of Makoto’s shirt (I know I could make it up, but I just wanted to check). Holy crap, it is like that boy never wears one. Seriously, you can’t see any hint of a t-shirt anywhere. Oh well, boring white shirt it is.
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	6. Fairies in the Wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fairy Tail and Eisenwald clash in Oshibana Station.

“I’m jealous, Maky! Your wizards are all full of life and they’re such cutie pies!”

Over in the town of Clover, the guildmasters’ conference was taking place. The master of Blue Pegasus, Bob, twirled on the spot as he spoke to Makarov. He was a bald man wearing makeup, jewelry, a pink outfit, and a pair of wings on his back. “I hear you’ve got a girl that gave some bigshot quite the spanking.”

“Oh, you must be talking about Lucy.” Makarov put down his mug of alcohol and picked up a chicken drumstick. “Yeah, she’s one of our newest recruits, and she’s got a body that won’t quit!”

“Ohhh! So naughty!”

“I wouldn’t be joking around if I were you, Makarov.” Makarov turned to face another one of the guildmasters, Goldmine. He was wearing a spiked collar and a pointed black hat with spikes around the rim of it. Goldmine waved his kebab around as he spoke. “Your wizards may be spirited, but you’ve got to admit, they go overboard sometimes. Some of the council members are worried that Fairy Tail’s going to end up destroying an entire city one of these days. Can’t say that I blame them.”

“Bah, let those blowhards worry; what do I care?” he said dismissively, carelessly tossing his mug around and causing the contents to slosh over the table he was sitting on. “They’re just jealous my wizards are _hot.”_

“Oh Maky, you shouldn’t talk about your little wizards that way,” Bob scolded him. “You’re such a scoundrel.”

“Master Makarov! Master Makarov!” a small blue bird chirped as it flew over to the Fairy Tail guildmaster, carrying an envelope in its talons. “I have a letter from Miss Mirajane, sir.”

“Ahh, thanks a lot,” Makarov said as the bird dropped its load into his outstretched hand. He traced the Fairy Tail stamp on the back with his finger, and a small hologram of Mira fizzed into existence along with a small magic circle.

“Hi, Master,” the hologram greeted. “I’m glad you made it to the conference safe and sound.”

“See?” Makarov said, holding the hologram out to the mass of people crowded around his table. “This honey’s our poster girl, Mirajane. Grab some eye candy, boys!” The crowd of people murmured in excitement and a few wolf whistles sounded.

“That’s Mirajane?” Goldmine asked in mild surprise. “I haven’t seen her in a while. She sure has matured.”

“Oh, Master! You’re not going to believe what happened.” Mira spread out her arms and beamed excitedly. “It may be the greatest thing in the history of Fairy Tail!”

“Really?” Makarov was stumped. What could have happened in the time he was gone that could warrant an introduction like that?

“Erza, Natsu, Gray, and Makoto have all teamed up together! And Lucy, Happy, and Maya are with them too, obviously. An amazing combination, huh?” Makarov grew increasingly more horrified and distressed as Mira continued, oblivious to his reaction as it was only a recording. “In fact, I think they may have formed the strongest team Fairy Tail’s ever seen! Sorry to bother you, but I just had to send a quick note to tell you the exciting news!”

“Not… those… four…!” Makarov choked out as the hologram of Mira cheerfully said, “See you soon, Master!” and faded away. The first three were already enough to make him panic, but he knew of Makoto’s contribution to the destruction of a mansion in Shirotsume; putting them all together was just _asking_ for an apocalypse.

“What’s wrong, Maky?” Bob inquired, concerned with Makarov’s pale face.

“I guess the council has a good reason to be worried,” Goldmine said. “Right?”

Makarov’s only response was to collapse backward onto the table. ( _“I can’t believe this is happening… Those four really_ could _destroy an entire city!”_ ) He sent a quick glance over to a clock on the wall. ( _“The conference ends today, so I can be back at Fairy Tail by tomorrow afternoon. I just hope nothing crazy happens between now and then. Oh,_ please _let nothing happen!”_ )

* * *

 

The Magicmobile was brought to a halt as they reached the next station in the line, Kunugi Station. Lucy, Makoto, Erza, Happy and Maya leaned over to look down the edge of the cliff in order to get a better look at the situation down there. A large amount of men from the army were stood around the station, trying to control the crowd of people that were there. The wreckage of the train Natsu had blown apart earlier was sitting forlornly in the middle of the tracks, blocking any other trains from getting past it.

Makoto, who more or less recovered from the worst of his motion sickness, relayed to the others what he overheard with his newly heightened sense of hearing. “Eisenwald was here. They took over the train and left a while back.”

“I can understand carriages and boats, but why’d they want to hijack a train?” Lucy wondered.

“It doesn’t really seem like a very good choice for getaways since it can only follow the tracks it’s on,” Happy pointed out.

“Yes, that’s true,” Erza agreed. “But they are quite fast.”

Gray stretched on the seat where he sat while they were stopping briefly, Natsu looking ready to puke by his feet. “I guess it’s up to us to figure out where those Eisenwald guys are going in such a big hurry and why.”

Maya raised up her paw. “Well, it can only go on the tracks, silly. Let’s just follow them; we’ll catch up to them eventually!”

“We know where, we just need to find out why and who.” Makoto clenched his fist by his side. ( _“Find out who they plan to kill with Lullaby… I swear, as long as there’s something I can do, I won’t let anyone die!”_ )

“Gray, you’re naked!” Lucy screamed when she turned back around, a blush present on her face.

“Am I?” Gray glanced down at his unclothed form in an almost nonchalant manner.

“Well, the military have this place covered; we should head to the next station, whichever one it is,” Makoto urged.

“Oshibana Station,” Erza specified, starting up the vehicle once again. “You’re right, Makoto. That’s where they’ll most likely be. There’s no time to waste!”

At the speed that Erza insisted they go at, they easily made it to the nearby town within half an hour. Even though they’d already reached the town, Erza continued to barrel down the roads and pathways at breakneck speeds.

“Stop, Erza! You’re going way too fast!” Gray had returned to his seat on the roof of the vehicle, thankfully fully clothed again. “You’re gonna overload the S.E. plug!”

“There’s no telling how many innocent people could die if Lullaby’s song is played!” she argued, continuing to fuel the plug around her arm with more magic power. “I can’t slow down; we have to stop Eisenwald before it’s too late!”

Gray’s grip tightened on the roof. The woman’s driving was crazy and if he wasn’t careful, he could go flying at the next turn. “But at this rate, you’re going to use up all of your magic before we even start fighting!”

Erza smirked as she raced towards the station, avoiding the pedestrians as best she could. “Well then, I’ll just have to rely on hand-to-hand combat. Besides, I’ve got you, Natsu and Makoto as backup.”

Meanwhile, in the back of the car, Happy crossed his arms in thought, struggling to recall something. “I feel like there was something important I was supposed to tell you, Lucy.”

“Oh really? Well, what was it?”

“I don’t remember…” Happy hummed. “It was just something about something that I was supposed to tell you. Um… You’re…”

“Totally sick for real…” Natsu supplied in his motion sickness-induced daze.

“That’s it!” Happy claimed.

“Are you kidding me?!” Lucy yelled. She did a double take when Natsu stuck his whole torso out of the window and hung there limply. “Careful, Natsu! You’re going to fall out!”

“That’s what I’m aiming for…!”

“Ah, Natsu! Makoto, help me pull him back up!”

“I’ll try…” Makoto steeled himself and slid across the seat towards where the desperate scarfed boy was dangling out of the window.

“Um…” Happy was still busy trying to figure out what he’d forgotten. “So if it wasn’t Lucy’s totally sick, then what the heck was it? Something weird like that… Lucy’s… weird? Hungry? Fishy? I like fish!”

“Ooh, me too!” Maya joined in. “What’s your favorite fish? I looove mackerel and haddock. Hey, why do you think they named it ‘catfish’? I mean, we’re cats and we don’t look anything like that weird fish!”

“Weird…” Happy mumbled. “Maybe that was it.”

“Why are you saying _I’m_ weird?” Lucy demanded once she and Makoto finished pulling Natsu back into the deathtrap.

Erza tensed slightly when she caught sight of a pillar of smoke coming from one of the buildings in front of them. “What’s that up ahead?”

Maya poked her head out of the window. “That’s the train station, yup yup.”

“Then maybe Eisenwald are behind it…” Makoto guessed as they screeched to a halt and climbed out. Lucy needed to help Natsu and Gray assisted Makoto, since the duo had no time to start recovering from the crazy driving. They hurried over to the station and towards one of the staff members who was shouting to the crowd with a megaphone.

Erza approached him and asked, “Excuse me, what’s going on?”

“Why would I tell you, lady?” That was a big mistake, as Erza headbutted him in response and knocked him out. She moved onto the next staff member and asked him the same question, and when she got the same response she gave the same punishment.

The rest of the Fairy Tail wizards sweatdropped as she continued. “Seems like her questioning method’s a little counterproductive,” Lucy commented.

“Erza’s got her own way of getting things done,” Gray responded.

“Where are your clothes?” Lucy demanded.

“How did you even manage to strip without me noticing…?” Makoto asked weakly, as he was leaning on Gray with his arm over his now bare shoulders. Gray recovered his discarded clothes and slipped them back on before supporting him again.

“The Eisenwald guild is inside,” Erza reported, gaining the information from someone who was smart enough to answer quickly. “Let’s go!”

“So I gotta drag this one around?” Lucy complained, struggling a little with the heavier Natsu.

“Sorry…” he squeaked, still recovering from the built-up motion sickness. The group of wizards swiftly headed into the empty train station, tugging along the dizzy Dragon Slayers.

“A small army unit stormed in earlier but they have yet to return,” Erza continued as they ran. “I’m guessing they’ve been caught in battle with the Eisenwald forces.”

They neared the staircase and Lucy let out a gasp at the sight of the army men littering the stone steps. Makoto felt sick to his stomach, and it wasn’t because of his earlier encounter with a vehicle in the hands of Erza. “They’re not… Are they…?”

“They’re just unconscious,” Maya reported as she flew back from one of the men she’d just checked.

“They were up against an entire guild of wizards.” The group slowed to a brisk walk as they passed the army men and continued up the stairs, approaching the main station area. “A small contingent like this would never stand a chance against such a powerful group,” Erza said.

They entered the large area and came face to face with an enormous group of men—Eisenwald, led by a man holding a large jagged scythe. “Welcome! Step into our parlor, Fairy Tail _flies!”_

“There’s so many of them!” Lucy gulped.

“You fiend! I take it you’re Erigor?” Erza addressed the man with the uncovered and tattooed chest. Erigor simply smirked at her. The two groups of wizards stared each other down while Lucy struggled to get Natsu to respond.

“Come on, Natsu!” Lucy shook him back and forth in an effort to stir him. “We need your help!”

“Good luck!” Happy moaned at her attempts. “Between the train, the Magicmobile and your shaking, it’s a motion sickness triple combo!”

“I’m not a vehicle!” Lucy shouted at him.

“Choo choo!” Maya chirped.

Makoto slipped his arm down from around Gray’s neck. “Are you gonna be all right?”

“I’m feeling better now,” he nodded, his sight closing in on the Shadow Wizard from the train. He was oblivious to Makoto’s presence and only seemed to care about Natsu.

“It’s your fault I got in trouble with Erigor,” he hissed. “Get up!” Unbeknownst to anyone around him, Natsu quickly regained his senses and muttered, “I know that voice…”

“We’re not threatened by any of you!” Erza shouted. “Tell me what you’re planning to do with Lullaby!”

“Oh, you haven’t heard yet?” Erigor sniggered as he jumped and took to the sky, hovering in the middle of the air. “What do all train stations have?”

“He flew?” Makoto gaped. “People can fly?”

“Yup yup! It’s Wind Magic,” Maya informed him. Erigor landed on top of a tall pole that had speakers attached to it. It didn’t take long for them to realize the implications.

“You plan to broadcast the Lullaby’s song?!” Erza yelled.

“Thousands of nosy onlookers have flocked to this station to get a glimpse of the action,” he laughed. “Who knows? If I raise the volume enough, I may be able to extinguish the _entire city_ with my melody of death!”

“You’d kill all those people?!” Makoto gawked. He’d seen horrible things happen before, but save one person, no one had resorted to anything so _callous._ “Why?! They’re just normal people going about their lives! They’re innocent bystanders who have done nothing wrong!”

“This is a cleansing of all the fools out there who fail to appreciate the rights they hold so dear,” Erigor answered. “Who remain willfully ignorant to the plight of those who’ve had their rights stripped away. They’ve committed the sin of turning a blind eye to the world’s injustice… Therefore, the Reaper has come to punish them!”

“Who are you to decide who lives and who dies?!” Makoto yelled angrily. “People shouldn’t have the power to play god!”

“And killing innocent people isn’t going to help you get your rights back; it’s only going to make things worse!” Lucy argued. “That’s the whole reason why you were kicked out of the wizard league in the first place!”

“At this point, we’ve given up trying to regain our rights. We want _power.”_ Erigor clenched his fist tightly with a wide grin across his face. “Then we will be able to wash away the sins of the past and take control of what happens in the future!”

“You guys are awful meanies and no one likes you!” Maya shouted. “Leave us all alone and go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under!”

“We’re rolling in a new age of darkness!” the guy from the train, Kageyama, smirked. “Course, by the time it gets here, you flies will be long gone!” His magic activated and shadows in the form of fists shot out towards the flying tabby, who was frozen in fear.

“Maya, move!” Makoto dashed towards her even though he knew he was too far away to make it. Luckily, someone closer moved first.

“You again?!” Kageyama cursed as Natsu destroyed his attack with his flaming fists.

“Eisenwald dude!” Natsu greeted with a grin. “I knew I recognized that voice!”

Maya floated down beside Natsu’s head. “Thanks for the save, yup yup!”

Natsu cracked his knuckles eagerly. “Oh, would you look at that? Looks like we’ve got ourselves a little get-together; let’s party!”

“I hope you’re ready!” Lucy shouted to the dark wizards. “This is the strongest team Fairy Tail has to offer!”

“I leave them to you!” Erigor announced, suddenly taking flight again. “Show them the terror of the dark guild, Eisenwald!” His form wavered as he disappeared in a gust of wind. Erza glared at where he’d been.

“Natsu and Gray, go. I need you to stop him,” she commanded. “If the two of you work together, not even Erigor the Reaper can defeat you. I’m leaving him in your hands.”

Natsu and Gray got into each other’s faces at the thought of working together, growling at each other. When Erza turned and snapped, “What did I say?!” they both cheered, “Aye!” and ran off down the hallway after Erigor.

“They ran off!”

“They’re going after Erigor!”

Kageyama as well as another wizard with magic to manipulate his hand bandages, Rayule, chased after the two, leaving Erza, Makoto, Lucy, Happy and Maya to deal with the rest of the Eisenwald guild.

“We’ll catch up with them once we’ve finished off the rest of the men here, okay?” Erza told the rest of them left behind.

“The three of us against an entire magical guild?” Lucy gulped nervously.

“I know Mira said we were the strongest team…” Makoto trailed off. “But can we really take down Eisenwald by ourselves?” He still didn’t have much practice and experience when it came to using his magic. Sure, his power was at a pretty decent level, but if the fight turned into a matter of endurance he knew he wouldn’t last long. The Eisenwald guys were laughing to themselves as they gained confidence in fighting the three Fairy Tail wizards.

“Mama always told me not to hit girls, but I can make an exception.”

“I’m sorry ladies, but you’re not going to be as cute once we’re done with ya.”

Makoto sweatdropped. “I think they’re ignoring me, and I don’t know whether to take it as an insult or a blessing.”

“Let’s do this.” Erza opened her hand up, causing a red magic circle to appear and then a sword to materialize into existence. “If you insult the Fairy Tail guild again in my presence, I swear, none of you will live to see tomorrow!”

( _“Where did that sword come from?”_ ) Makoto wondered in shock as some swordsmen from Eisenwald charged at her. ( _“I don’t get it; is that her magic?”_ )

Her sword slashing twice, Erza fended them off, shattering their swords in the process. She leaped into the crowd and swung again, shouting a war cry as she moved on. A few wizards fired long range magic beams at her, but she jumped into the air to dodge and held her sword between both hands. Two magic circles appeared again and the sword glowed as it changed into a spear.

The change happened so fast, Makoto wasn’t sure if he was seeing things. “It’s a spear now?!”

Erza struck again, taking out more men with her long ranged spear before it glowed and changed again. Two strikes and more of Eisenwald fell to her twin swords.

Two of the men from Eisenwald watched from the sidelines in awe. “It turned into twin swords…”

“I’ve never seen anybody be able to requip as fast as this chick!”

“Requip…?” Makoto echoed, hearing the discussion over the sound of Erza wrecking house. It was clear that the Eisenwald wizards were nowhere near her level. None of them could keep up with her speed and skill as she effortlessly mowed down more of them with a battleax.

“Oh right, you said you hadn’t heard of Erza before you met her,” Happy recalled. “Erza has a bunch of magic weaponry that she keeps stored in another dimension. When she swaps the weapons she’s using, it’s called requipping.”

That seemed like a useful ability to have, both in battle and for other uses. A memory made Makoto pause and ask for clarification, “Erza has her own personal pocket dimension to store things in that she can access at any time?”

“Aye!”

“Then why the heck did she have all of those suitcases on the train?”

“It’s Erza,” Happy shrugged as if that answered the question. “But she’s just getting warmed up; you ain’t seen nothing yet!”

“We should get involved, too!” Lucy said, taking one of her keys from her ring. _“Open, Gate of the Giant Crab! Cancer!”_

The crab man appeared with the sound of a doorbell ringing and a flash of light. “You need me to fight these dudes, baby?”

“Yeah, take ‘em out with style!” Lucy said with a smirk.

“I ain’t never seen such a stupid haircut!” one of the dark wizards shouted as they charged.

“You look like an idiot!”

Cancer’s sunglasses flashed. “Whoa, baby.” Cancer jumped straight through the crowd, scissors snipping as he went. Weapons fell to pieces and hair slipped to the ground one clump at a time.

“My weapon!”

“What happened to my hair?!”

“We’re all—!”

“Bald?” Lucy supplied helpfully as they all fell unconscious. “Like your new style, baby?” Cancer asked.

“That was impressive,” Erza complimented, pausing in her fight to look over.

“Oh, thanks, but it was no big deal,” Lucy replied modestly before cheering quietly to herself, “All right! I totally scored points with her!”

“Is that really the important thing here?” Makoto asked. He scanned the room, watching in awe as Erza struck down more wizards with ease. He tensed as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

“Erza, look out! _Earth Dragon’s Roar!”_ The redhead spun around at the call. Makoto’s magic beam shot past her and tore through the Eisenwald guys trying to sneak up on her.

“So this is the power of the Earth Dragon Slayer,” Erza commented. Makoto’s breathing grew slightly heavier. He still had a lot of juice left in him, but his roars tended to take a lot out of him. “I appreciate your help, Makoto.”

“Right,” he nodded. Glancing over to the wizards he’d rendered unconscious, he couldn’t help but groan internally. The attack had also torn through the ground a bit as well. Fairy Tail—or at least Natsu—was becoming a bad influence on him. He knew he’d end up having to pay for the repairs in some form.

Dismissing the thought from his head, he turned to the rest of the guild left standing. “Let’s try to focus on what we came here to do.”

“There’s still so many.” Erza’s eyes swept over as some of the ones they’d already dealt with struggled to their feet again. “Annoying, but I’ll wipe them out.”

A magic circle appeared beneath her feet, and her armor was enveloped in a flash of light as it began disappearing. The Eisenwald men instantly ogled at her. Makoto couldn’t help the heat that rose to his cheeks.

“What is she doing?” he asked, slightly concerned as to what he would be confronted with when the light faded.

“Most Requip Wizards only have the ability to swap their weapons,” Happy continued explaining as a new set of armor materialized on Erza. “But Erza is able to swap her armor for wizarding armor that enhances her abilities. It’s a talent that only she possesses; that’s what makes her magic special. A technique called: The Knight!”

The new armor formed on Erza, covering her chest and the top of her large skirt with metal plates, leaving her stomach and neck bare. Two sets of metal wings extended from her back and she wore a headpiece with winglike attachments. A dozen swords appeared in a circular formation as she took to the air, aided by the wings of her armor.

“Now dance, my swords!” The swords sped up in their movement, eventually dissolving into a ring of blue energy. _“Circle Sword!”_ Erza shouted as she swung her two normal swords. The ring of energy expanded outwards, striking through the Eisenwald forces. Through an attack that lasted mere seconds, Erza had taken out the entire guild, leaving only two people standing. Makoto, Lucy and Maya’s jaws dropped to the ground from her power.

One of the two wizards left growled and leaped for Erza, fists glowing with magic energy. “All right, you’re dealing with me now!”

“Don’t do it, Byard!” the fatter man, Karacka, yelled at him. “Do you have any idea who that woman is? She’s Queen of the Fairies! Titania Erza!” Erza slashed at the man attacking her, knocking him out before reverting back to her casual armor now that the fighting was finished.

“Forget this!” Karacka yelled, making a break for it. “I’m outta here!”

Erza watched him as he fled down a hallway. “I would imagine he’s going to look for Erigor. You should follow him.”

“Who, me?” Lucy questioned when the scarlet-haired woman looked her way. She flinched when Erza began to glare at her. “Whatever you say! I don’t want to make you angry!” she wailed as the two flying cats followed after her in fear. Erza watched them as they chased after the dark wizard before letting out an exhausted sigh as she fell to one knee, a hand placed down on the floor to steady herself.

Makoto was by her side in an instant. “Erza! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she assured, though she didn’t move to stand up. “I just used a bit too much energy…”

“The car…” Makoto realized. “Gray did warn you about driving too fast.”

Erza glanced up at him. “Weren’t you indisposed because of the motion sickness?”

Makoto laughed nervously. He had been trying to block his not-so-finest moment from his memory. “That’s putting it lightly.” He let out a short cough before continuing, “Besides, I’d like to think I’m a little better at handling it than Natsu.”

“Natsu…” Erza mumbled. She looked down the way that he and Gray had run to, prompting Makoto to do the same. He looked back to her when she tried to get to her feet.

“E-Erza!” he shouted, reaching out for her shoulders. “You need to take it easy!”

“I’m fine!” she repeated. She waved his hands away before heading to a staircase that would lead her to the outside balcony. “I have faith in Natsu and Gray, but we need to prepare for a worst-case scenario.”

Makoto watched after her for a while before smiling tiredly and followed after. “She’s so stubborn…” he sighed. “I guess all of Fairy Tail is like this.”

When Makoto reached the balcony, Erza had already snatched a megaphone from one of the station’s staff who hadn’t left yet and went over the railing.

“Hey, what are you planning on—?!”

“Wait,” Makoto intervened, placing an arm out to stop him. “She knows what she’s doing.” The staff looked unconvinced but remained where they were regardless. Makoto knew her for less than a day, but he’d bore witness to her quick decision-making and swift battle style. He felt he could trust Erza to handle the situation delicately.

She switched on the megaphone and shouted into it, “If you value your lives, then you will leave this place at once! This station’s been taken over by evil wizards! They are threatening to broadcast a deadly spell over the loudspeakers that would kill everyone here! I beg you, run as far as you can!”

From his higher vantage point, Makoto could easily see the uncertainty and worry spreading through the crowd like wildfire. The anxiety quickly gave way to panic as the townspeople practically scrambled over each other in their rush to abandon the town.

“Hey, lady!” one of the staff members called to her. Turning to look at them, Makoto could tell that a few of them were on the receiving end of her interrogatory headbutts earlier. “Why would you make everyone panic like that?!”

She turned to him and replied tersely, “I would rather that than watch all of these people die.”

The station workers paused and looked at each other, taken by surprise by her short and simple answer. “In fact,” she continued. “You gentlemen need to evacuate as well.”

Makoto sweatdropped as the workers quickly mingled into the remaining crowd of people, soon vanishing far into the distance. “I should’ve realized that ‘delicate’ isn’t part of Fairy Tail’s vocabulary.”

* * *

 

“I can’t believe she’s making us work together!” Gray complained. He ran alongside Natsu down the hallway as they followed after Erigor, trying to track him down in the large train station. “What was she thinking?!”

“Obviously, she _wasn’t_ thinking!” Natsu yelled in response. “Everybody knows that fire and ice don’t mix!”

“Yeah,” Gray agreed as he glared at the Dragon Slayer. “Why does she always have to be so freaking bossy?!”

Natsu returned the glare full force. “She should _ask_ us to do stuff instead of ordering us around!”

Both of the wizards stopped in their tracks and yelled, “I don’t need your help! I can handle Erigor all by myself!” When they realized they’d said the same thing at the exact same time, they pushed their heads against each other again. “Are you copying me?!”

They paused in their argument when they noticed the hallway split up just ahead, going in two completely opposite directions. “Which way do we go?” Natsu wondered as they walked up to the intersection.

“I guess we’ll have to split up,” Gray suggested. He turned to go down the left hallway while Natsu decided to go down the right. The duo paused just before they parted ways.

“Natsu,” Gray spoke up. Natsu turned slightly at his voice. “We’re up against an evil freak who’s getting ready to unleash a deadly spell.” Gray turned to face him with a grin and put up his fist. “If you find him, give him a thrashing.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Natsu laughed. “I’ve got a bone to pick with that jerk for messing with Fairy Tail.” He raised his own fist. “I’m gonna burn him to a crisp!”

They chuckled together, grinning at each other. Abruptly, they turned away from each other with a huff when they realized that they were getting along.

“Don’t die on me…” Gray muttered under his breath.

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” he said dismissively as he started running. “Later, loser!” Natsu turned to his own hallway with a shrug and hurried down it.

Gray rushed down the halls, turning at every corner and glancing over all of the doors he passed by. He slowed down to a halt as he caught sight of a certain machine hanging from the ceiling.

“So that’s it… Erigor’s gonna play the Lullaby through the speaker system,” he recalled. Realizing where his destination was now, he continued down the hall. None of the doors he ran past on the way were the one for the room he needed, anyway.

Eventually, he came to the one door he was looking for: an ordinary wooden door with red letters spelling out ‘studio’ emblazoned onto a simple metal plate. Stopping in front of it, he raised his leg and kicked the door in, knocking it off its hinges and sending splinters everywhere.

The broadcast studio was a small, dark room. Lining walls and taking up at least half of the floor space were expensive-looking pieces of equipment. Gray figured they were broadcast-related, but they weren’t what he was looking for.

In fact, the one thing he couldn’t seem to find in the room was anyone else.

“There’s nobody here.” Gray took a few tentative steps into the room, inspecting the machinery closer to see if there was anywhere to hide. “Maybe I was wrong about him broadcasting it over the station’s PA.”

Sensing something off about the room, Gray let his reflexes take command, dodging out the way of an attack from an Eisenwald wizard, Rayule. “That was a pretty good guess, _pal,”_ the dark guild wizard complimented in a condescending manner. Rayule lowered himself from the vent in the ceiling where he was hiding. “But our plan isn’t as obvious as you might think.”

Gray raised himself from his crouched position with a grin. “So tell me what the plan is, and you won’t get hurt.”

Instead of replying, Rayule activated his magic, causing the bandages around his knuckles to fly at Gray. He rolled out of the way of the attack easily.

“There’s no escape…” The Eisenwald wizard redirected his bandages to Gray’s new position. “From my Urumi!”

Gray placed his closed fist into his palm, keeping his cool as a faint mist blew around him briefly. _“Ice Make: Shield!”_ He spread his arms out, causing flat pillars of ice to form in front of him and creating a barrier that blocked the attack.

Rayule lost his smirk. “This punk uses Ice Magic?”

 _“Ice Make: Knuckle!”_ Gray unleashed his spell and a blue light appeared briefly below Rayule. Quickly, a number of fist-shaped ice blocked burst from the ground and knocked the wizard through the stone wall with a crash.

“This is your last chance to tell me what you’re planning,” Gray warned as he walked up to the hole in the wall. “You’re not going to broadcast the Lullaby’s song over the PA system?”

Rayule gave a weak chuckle, pulling himself into a crouch. “Erigor’s magic-sealing barrier should be activated by now…”

“Erigor’s what?”

“He’s created a wind barrier that will keep you insects from escaping!”

* * *

 

“Now that we’ve cleared everyone from the train station, I wonder what Erigor’s next move will be…” Erza wondered as the wind picked up on the balcony. Makoto paused; it wasn’t unnatural for the wind to change, but for it to suddenly grow so intense… He turned to look behind him in response. He froze as his eyes widened. “What the hell?!”

Erza whipped around at his startled shout, her own eyes widening at the sight of a massive whirlwind surrounding the station. “It’s some kind of wind barrier!”

Makoto immediately latched on to the significant word. “If it’s made of wind, then maybe—”

“I’ve always wanted the opportunity to fight the Queen of the Fairies, though I don’t know who your friend is.” Both of them turned again to see Erigor hovering in front of the balcony, legs crossed and hand lazily grasping his scythe. He raised his free hand and it glowed with magic. “But unfortunately, I don’t have time to play with you right now.”

A furious gust of wind battered them. The strength of it lifted Makoto off of his feet, crashing into Erza and throwing them both through the wall of wind. Erza recovered quickly, shoving Makoto off of her and rushing for the wind.

“Erigor!” she roared, shoving her elbow into the wind stream to try and push through, but the force was too powerful and pushed her back.

“It’s useless!” They could barely hear Erigor over the howls of the wind. “There’s no way you’ll ever be able to break through my magic sealing barrier! You see, it’s one-way only; if you try to escape, the wind will tear you apart!”

“Erza, your arm!” Makoto shouted, noticing the cracked wings and armor surrounding her elbow. She ignored him, clutching her injured elbow and demanded, “What is the meaning of this, you scoundrel?!”

“We’ve wasted enough of our time on you Fairy Tail flies!” Erigor sneered. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…” Erigor used his magic to boost him further into the air and disappear from their sight.

“Get back here, Erigor!” Erza barked, but he was long gone. “Damn it… So he wasn’t targeting this station after all. Just what is he planning…?”

* * *

 

Rayule let out a grunt of pain as Gray slammed him into the wall hard, grasping his jacket collar. “Why don’t I get straight to the point here, _buddy?_ Tell me what the plan is, or else!”

Rayule had the audacity to smirk. “We knew you pests would cause problems, so we lured you here and trapped you. The only reason we took over this station was to block traffic to the final stop. We didn’t want any trains getting into Clover Station.”

“Yeah? Why?” Gray demanded.

“Because that’s where it’s going down,” he revealed. “Clover’s just beyond a giant canyon, and this train line is the only way in and out of town. Unless you’re able to fly like Erigor.”

The Ice Wizard frowned. “So the Lullaby’s in Clover…?”

“You know what else is there right now? Think hard and you’ll get it.” Gray flinched as he realized he left himself open, allowing Rayule to strike him with his Urumi Magic. As he recovered, he finally understood what the Eisenwald wizard was getting at. The guildmaster conference was taking place in Clover; that had been Erigor’s target all along.

Rayule sneered at the look on his face. “Hahaha! You finally figure it out, huh? Well, it’s too late to stop us now!”

Rayule struck out once more, and Gray put up his arms to lessen the blow from the attack. “You Eisenwald thugs must be pretty brave; taking on such a powerful group of wizards!”

“Those ignorant old fogeys won’t even know what hit ‘em when Lullaby’s song starts playing,” he retorted flippantly. “There’s no way Erigor’s plan will fail!”

Gray grunted as Rayule’s bandages wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his body and squeezing him tight. “You and your little fairy friends are stuck in this station, so there’s nothing you can do about it!” he continued to taunt. “Soon, we’ll have our revenge on everyone who tried to keep us down! When we’re done, they’ll be completely wiped out!”

Gray’s anger reached a whole different level at those words. His magic reacted to his emotions, expelling a cold aura around him that froze Rayule’s bandages, to his surprise. The Ice Wizard strained his arms against his restraints; now that they were frozen, they shattered easily.

“That’s not gonna happen!” Gray growled. Rayule’s legs and arm became encased in ice from the rapidly dropping temperature. He looked up to see his opponent steadily walking closer towards him. “Now get this straight; when you mess with the guildmasters, then you mess with all of us! They may be old fogeys, but they’re the closest thing we have to parents!”

Gray placed his hand on Rayule, letting his magic finish its job. It only took a few moments, and when it was done he walked away from the scene of the battle, leaving Rayule encased in ice. “When I get my hands on them, I’ll show them Fairy Tail can be much more terrifying than any dark guild.”

* * *

 

Back on the balcony, Makoto bit his lip. Eisenwald was done here, and Erigor was flying off to their real destination, wherever that was. His mind raced in circles, chasing down any of the facts he knew that could be related in any way. He took in a deep breath as he recalled the order of incidents that occurred in the last few hours.

( _“Natsu and I were attacked on the train at Onibas…”_ ) he began. ( _“Then Eisenwald hijacked a train at Kunugi, and trapped us here at Oshibana. There’s gotta be a reason behind it; there’s always a reason.”_ )

Makoto let out a frustrated groan as he sank to the floor, crossing his legs. ( _“All right… Connection, connection… Obviously, they’re all related to the train or the stations. Of course, though, my Fiore geography has to be even worse than my luck.”_ ) There wasn’t much he could do about his lack of knowledge, but there had to be some kind of inference to be made.

Something suddenly clicked in his mind. “Maybe there’s another one…?”

“Another one?” Erza echoed. Makoto jumped slightly. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he forgot that the redhead was still next to him. Wait, no, that was perfect!

Makoto turned to her and inquired, “Are there any more towns the train can reach after this?”

Erza thought for a moment before nodding. “The train tracks carry on over a canyon to the last stop. You don’t think they’re planning to do something in Clover, do you?”

“Clover…” Makoto tested the name on his tongue. He got the feeling that he’d heard the name somewhere before, but he couldn’t recall immediately. Too many things had happened today to keep track of what happened before.

“Clover…” he repeated again. Bells were ringing; he was sure of it. “Where have I heard that name bef—Ah!” he interrupted himself with an exclamation of shock. It all clicked. He remembered where he’d heard that name before. His face drained of color as the pieces fell into place. “The conference! It’s in Clover!”

Erza started when she caught on to what Makoto had realized. “The guildmasters!”

They both bolted to their feet, spurred into action by their revelation as they shouted in unison, “They’re going to kill the guildmasters with Lullaby!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Editing through this chapter, I realized that I have some bizarre need to shove the word *had* or the shortened version like *he’d* or *they’d* into every single sentence I possibly can. I got rid of like a bunch of them that I felt were unnecessary and there are still like 20 examples (not all of them used in the way I explained above, but still).
> 
> Also, I know I spelt Makarov’s nickname as Maky. It’s kinda weird. I don’t care. That’s how I’m spelling it. Deal with it.
> 
> Oh, idk if there's anyone here who's waiting for Chapter 10 on FF.net, but I'll just put this message here cause, you know, I'm updating here. So I'm starting exams like literally in a few days so I won't have much of an opportunity to write anything for a while, maybe a month or two. For AO3, this won't mean much for Ch 7, 8, + 9, but there will be a waiting period. I don't like doing this, but I'm lazy enough as it is without pressuring myself to write this story with exams.
> 
> I might try to keep updates about chapter 10's progress on my tumblr (trimaplenut), there's a page about this story, in case you guys are interested. Idk. Yeah.
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	7. Earth, Wind, and Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fairy Tail wizards scramble for a way to escape Oshibana Station before it's too late.

Byord’s day wasn’t going well thus far. Sure, his guild Eisenwald had the Lullaby flute and Erigor was on his way to act out their plan, but when a wizard from a goody-two-shoes guild like Fairy Tail comes and annihilates practically every member of Eisenwald at once—without even breaking a sweat—it tends to put a damper on anything positive.

“I already told you…” Byord groaned. His injuries were smarting; the last thing he needed was to be interrogated by those irritating flies. “There’s no getting through Erigor’s barrier. You and your buddies are stuck here.”

Makoto folded his arms, looking down at the man as he sat slumped against the wall. A feeling of impatience rose up within the Dragon Slayer. “You better hope there’s a way through, otherwise you’re going to be in a world of hurt.”

The man had the courage to smirk. “Am I supposed to be afraid of a runty Fairy Tail insect?”

Makoto pitied the man. Honestly, he really did. He was just trying to inform Byord of the facts. If the Eisenwald wizard was more concerned with making jabs at his short stature than his genuine warning, then that was his decision. “It’s not me you should be worried about.”

Byord let out a girlish squeal as the scarlet demon picked him up by his collar and thrust him against the wall violently. His brain decided that it was the perfect time to remind him that he hadn’t been the first one questioned, and all of his guild pals now were bound and unconscious just a few feet behind the Fairy Tail duo.

“I suggest you start thinking  _very_  hard about a way to get past that barrier…”

“Erza!”

Byord thanked whatever god was smiling down upon him. Erza and Makoto were distracted by the sudden call and looked up to the upstairs balcony. Gray was standing there, slightly out of breath and a panicked expression on his face.

“What are you doing here?” Erza demanded. “I thought you were with Natsu!”

“We decided to split up, but never mind that!” Gray said, sidestepping the question. “Listen, I just found out that Eisenwald’s real target is Clover, the next town up!”

Gray was surprised when the two of them looked  _un_ surprised at the news. The only reaction they showed was a shared glance of worry. “It’s as we feared…” Erza said.

“You guys already knew?!” he shouted.

“Makoto figured it out a while ago,” she responded. “We would have followed after Erigor immediately, but the station is surrounded by a wind barrier.”

“Yeah, I know. I saw it earlier.” Gray hopped down over the railing and walked over to the two of them. Erza dropped Byord to the ground; he was too weak and beaten up to get very far anyway. “If you try to break through that thing, it’ll make minced meat out of you.”

“I already tried that,” Erza stated. Gray noticed just then how she was holding onto her elbow gently and how shredded the armor around it seemed to be.

“Whoa, is your arm okay?” he inquired worriedly.

“That’s not important,” she brushed off.

“I already said she should probably give her arm a rest, and offered my help if there was anything I could do, but…” Makoto shrugged helplessly.

“Our top priority is getting out of here,” Erza reminded. “I’ll be fine, but we must stop Erigor before he reaches the guildmasters’ conference.”

“We tried getting some info from the other Eisenwald wizards,” Makoto explained to Gray as he gestured to the tied up wizards. “Well, Erza did most of the interrogating… Anyway, none of them would give us a straight answer on how to get past the barrier, but… there’s gotta be some way to get outside.”

The three of them stood there in silence, the only sound audible being the faint roar of the wind barrier. ( _“That barrier can’t be as impenetrable as they’d like to believe,”_ ) Makoto thought to himself. ( _“There’s no way to brute force our way through—Erza found that out the hard way—and we can’t just go around it since it starts from the ground and closes at the top… But maybe there’s a way to take it down…?”_ )

He voiced his thoughts to see what the other two thought about it. After all, taking down the barrier would obviously involve some kind of magic, and they’d know more about it than he would.

Erza suddenly spoke up, “Wait a minute… I remember them talking about someone named Kage back at the pub. We have to find that man! He was the one who broke Lullaby’s seal!”

“A dispeller, huh? A seal-breaking wizard…” Gray realized. “He can take down the wind barrier!”

“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Erza nodded.

“I think Kage is probably the guy who attacked Natsu and me on the train,” Makoto guessed. If Kage was the one who broke the flute’s seal, it made sense that it would be the same guy they saw on the train with the flute. “He went after Natsu and you when you ran off after Erigor, along with another wizard.”

All of a sudden, Gray looked smug as he glanced up to the hallway he’d come from. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about that other guy. But if he came after me, then this Kage guy probably followed Natsu.”

Makoto nodded in agreement. “In that case, they should be pretty easy to find.”

“What makes you say that?” Gray asked.

A muffled explosion rocked the building, and Makoto casually pointed in the general direction of it. “Follow the trail of destruction and fire.”

“Right…” They took off for the direction of the explosion, but something made Makoto stop in his tracks. It took a moment for the others to notice, but they both stopped and Erza called, “What’s wrong, Makoto?”

“I just—” He broke off abruptly.  _Was_ there something wrong? He glanced behind him; all he could see was Byord and the other unconscious wizards. He absentmindedly scratched as his stomach; it had felt weird for a moment—or was it his magic? He couldn’t quite pinpoint the source, but it was because of  _some_ kind of feeling that he’d stopped. The longer he thought about it as he stared at the room, the more certain he was that he’d experienced the feeling somewhere before, even if he couldn’t remember where. He narrowed his eyes. Something was bugging him about the room…

Another explosion reached his ears. Makoto shook his head to snap himself back to reality. Standing there and debating about some weird stomach bug was wasting precious time. He shoved the odd gut feelings to the back of his mind and said, “Never mind. Let’s go!”

They hurried from the room and down the winding hallways. It didn’t take long before they came across evidence of a fight that no doubt had Natsu as one of its participants. ( _“Geez,”_ ) Makoto sighed mentally as they passed by the twelfth hole located right next to a door. ( _“Does this guy even have a door to his house or does he just walk through a giant hole in the wall? No, wait, scratch that, does he even still_ have  _a house?”_ )

“…Sorry I had to take you down, Diorama.”

“I told you, it’s Kageyama…!”

“Whatever. Tell me where Erigor is, or you’re gonna get toasted!”

Natsu and Kageyama were visible at the top of a staircase at the end of the balcony. Natsu was standing in front of yet another hole in the wall while the Eisenwald wizard was slumped up against a charred wall. It didn’t take much brain power to tell that Natsu was the victor of the battle that took place.

“Natsu!” Erza called, grabbing their attention. “Do not harm him! We need him alive!”

“Way to go, ya fire freak!” Gray chided as they hurried up the stairs.

“Eh?” Confusion was written all over his face but it quickly turned into fear when Erza requipped a sword and prepared to swing it. “Idon’tknowwhatIdidwrongbut _I’msorry!”_

Natsu and Kageyama screamed in horror as Erza’s sword sliced through the stone wall like a hot knife through butter, jerking to a stop just inches before Kageyama’s neck. Makoto paled. ( _“I would_ not  _want to be him right now…”_ )

“You will dispel the wind barrier and you will do so  _without complaint!”_ she ordered, leaving no room for debate.

“Just do it, man!” Natsu freaked as Kageyama trembled in terror. “This chick’s a real monster!”

“Shut up, Natsu,” Gray said.

“Understood?” Erza pressed. “Fine, I’ll dispel the barrier…” Kageyama caved.

In the following instant, Makoto tensed as the bizarre feeling from before returned. It was sort of like his magic was flaring up in preparation for a spell, but not quite… More like it did during the mission at Everlue’s mansion. Makoto’s eyes widened at the realization. And if the feeling was correct, if what his magic was screaming at him was true, then—!

“Erza, you have to get him away from that wall!” Makoto screamed frantically.

The warning came a moment too late. As soon as the last word left his mouth, Kageyama stiffened and coughed out blood. He stumbled forward, the red liquid dribbling past his lips as he collapsed to the ground, a large dagger stabbed into his back. Karacka was leaning out of the wall, one hand outstretched and an expression of horror.

“ _Kage!”_ Erza cried as she rushed over to him. “He was our only way out of here!” Gray cursed.

“Damn it! Kage, hang in there!” Makoto rushed over and dropped to his knees. Acting on instinct, he tugged his shirt quickly over his head and pressed it on the wound, careful to not touch or move the knife. ( _“Shit, shit, shit… Keep it together, Makoto… There’s gotta be a way… t-to stop… C-Crap, there’s so much blood…”_ )

The blood was already beginning to soak through the fabric of his shirt, reaching his fingers and causing a terrible cold feeling. Cold… A feeling of emptiness, spreading throughout his whole being as he stared at the bloodstained shirt… The spilled blood of innocents, of his friends, as they lay dead before him… Sayaka… Mukuro… Leon, Chihiro, Taka, Hifumi—!

“Kage, don’t you dare die on us!” Erza barked. “We need your help; do you hear me?!”

“I think we’re losing him, Erza!” Gray warned.

Their shouts pierced whatever fog had blanketed Makoto’s senses. He blinked rapidly, disoriented from his sudden flashbacks. ( _“Focus!”_ ) he growled inwardly to himself. Now was not the time to get swamped with memories of the dead; Kageyama was right there in front of him, bleeding out, and he would die if Makoto couldn’t keep his mind in the present.

He tossed his shirt to the side—it was completely soaked with blood. There’d be no salvaging it, but he didn’t care so long as he could keep Kageyama alive. He’d lost people before, but this time, he could do something about it, and he’d do as much as he could.

A sudden increase in heat from behind him caused him to look up at a furious Natsu. “How could you do that to one of your friends…?”

Karacka was trembling from what he had done and remained silent. Natsu growled as he raised his voice, “He’s a member of your guild! He trusted you and you tried to kill him! How could you?!” Karacka retreated into the wall in fear, but Natsu ran past them and punched straight through the wall. His fiery fist connected with Karacka, knocking him out from the force of it. “Is that how you dark guild members treat each other?!”

“Please, Kage, just stay with us!” Erza continued to plead. “You’re the only one of us who’s able to dispel the wind barrier! Hang on!”

“We need bandages… There’s got to be some somewhere…” Makoto bit his lip. They needed to stop the bleeding, but he didn’t know the first thing about treating knife wounds. Especially when said knife was still in there. It was probably better that it stayed in, all things considered; it was probably blocking the blood flow and reducing it from what it could be.

He blinked as a roll of bandages was thrust into his hands, courtesy of Erza. He didn’t even question it as he quickly unraveled it. There were more important things to worry about. She probably just got it from her pocket dimension of armors and weapons. He ripped a length of it and bunched it up so it would cover a larger area, and then applied it to the wound.

“ _O-Open, Gate of the Giant Crab! Cancer!”_ Makoto looked up at the sound of a doorbell and was greeted by the sight of Lucy, Maya, and Happy, as well as the just-summoned spirit. “Cancer, help them get that guy’s shirt off,” Lucy commanded her spirit, although she did so with less vigor than normal. She was probably put off by the amount of blood, and Makoto didn’t blame her. He’d seen countless horrors, and he was still disturbed by it.

“We shall have to remove the knife,” Erza decided once Cancer had disappeared after completing his task. At Makoto’s shocked expression, she elaborated, “He needs a doctor, but there is no one left in town. We’ll have to take him with us in the Magicmobile. It’ll be too dangerous to leave the knife as it is.”

( _“Yeah… Especially with the crazy way you drive,”_ ) Makoto agreed in his head. “Okay, Kage, I’m going to pull the knife out,” he said aloud, bracing himself mentally. He handed Erza the bandages and reached for the weapon with his free hand. “It’s gonna hurt, but I need you to stay with us. You’re gonna be okay, all right? I won’t let you die.”

Without waiting for a response, Makoto made his move, causing Kageyama to flinch and scream with pain as the wound bled heavily. Erza ripped the bandages and applied pressure around the wound to try and stem the blood flow. Taking the roll once more, Makoto wrapped it around Kageyama’s torso the best he could, with Natsu and Gray assisting him when it came to getting it under him. Thankfully, it seemed that the wound was more or less bandaged to the best of their abilities.

“I think we’ve done all we can…” Makoto sighed with relief as he sat back on his heels. With a few of the spare bandage cloths, he furiously wiped at his hands. Most of the blood came off, but what remained on his hands was mostly dry anyway. “But we’re not doctors; we need to get him to the hospital ASAP.”

“Then we should leave immediately,” Erza recommended, rising to her feet carefully with Kageyama cradled in her arms. “The sooner we take down that barrier and the sooner we get to Clover, the better.” They went as quickly as they could, mindful of Kageyama’s wellbeing, as they headed towards the outside of the station and to the barrier.

Maya took her usual spot on top of Makoto’s head now that he was finished focusing. “Why are we going to Clover? I thought the bad sickle man was here…”

“It’s a scythe,” Makoto corrected. “And, right… You, Happy, Lucy, and Natsu don’t know.” He looked at the four he’d just named. “Erigor’s going to play Lullaby at the conference in Clover.”

“What?!” Lucy gasped. “He’s going to kill all the guildmasters?!”

“We have to stop him!” Natsu growled as they exited the station walls. The wind barrier roared in front of them, completely enveloping the station from the sky to the ground and cutting off any escape.

“That’s easier said than done,” Erza said, lying Kageyama down on the ground. “Erigor cut off our only means of reaching Clover and is headed there by air.”

“I’m pretty sure we could catch up to him on the Magicmobile, but…” Gray trailed off, jabbing an irritated thumb in the direction of the barrier. Even if the vehicle was on the same side of the barrier as them, there wasn’t much they could do with the barrier up.

“We’ve got, like, five super mega awesome strong wizards here,” Maya pointed out. “Can’t you just combine your powers and break through the barrier that way?”

Natsu took the opportunity to charge the barrier with his flaming fist. The blow connected, but he was immediately thrown back to the ground with tiny gashes on his hand. Lucy and Maya flinched away in surprise. “See?” Gray pointed. “That’s what happens when you try to bust through.”

“You’d think he’d at least use a bit of common sense sometimes,” Makoto said with a sigh.

“Kage, wake up,” Erza pleaded to the Shadow Wizard. It was a futile effort however, as he’d been unconscious since the dagger was taken out. “You’re our only hope now!”

The temperature rapidly rose around Natsu as both of his fists combusted. “I’ve gotta try to break through! We have! To save! Makarov!” His sentence was broken up by the strikes he attempted against the wind, but nothing he did could break through the wind.

“Natsu!” Lucy cried as he was thrown past them. Tiny gashes littered his arms and face from the strength of the gale.

“Cut it out, you idiot,” Gray scolded. “Obviously, brute force isn’t going to do you any good.”

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” Lucy turned to Gray and asked. To Makoto, though, her tone sounded more like she was begging. “If you tried freezing it, maybe Natsu can melt it!”

“It’s a barrier, sure, but it’s still made of wind, isn’t it?” Makoto spoke up. “I don’t think Gray could freeze it the same way he could a wall.”

“That’s exactly it. Lucy, if I could, I would have done that already,” Gray pointed out with a frustrated tone. His frustration wasn’t with the blonde; he was frustrated by the fact that, with Kageyama and his magic out of the picture, there didn’t seem to be any feasible way to get out.

Natsu charged with a yell once again in a meaningless attempt to break through the barrier by force. Unlike his other attempts, he didn’t even try to use his fire; he just jumped at it and tried to force his way through with his shoulder.

“Natsu!” Gray bellowed at him angrily.

“Would you stop trying to be the hero?!” Lucy snapped. “You’re going to get torn to shreds!”

“Lucy’s right!” Makoto shouted as Natsu crashed back down. Lucy wrapped her arms around him to prevent him from running off and getting himself more injured. “What good will you be to the master if you’re too beaten up to move?”

Natsu growled at his inability to do anything, but then paused and glanced back at the girl as if finally noticing she was there. Lucy looked up at him and a light blush dusted her cheeks. “What?” she asked. “What’s the matter?” He stared for a bit longer before—

“AHHHHH! We could use your spirits!” he suggested.

“Wha…?” Lucy blinked at him in confusion.

“Back at Everlue’s, me and Makoto were pulled from one place to another through the Spirit World!” he recounted enthusiastically.

“Well, yeah, but normal people would suffocate to death if they tried that,” Lucy argued. “It’s hard to breathe in their world! Besides, a Celestial Wizard can only open a gate wherever they’re standing!”

“…Hah?”

Lucy sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose. “Okay, let me simplify this for you. Even if we  _could_ pass through the Spirit World, we would need another Celestial Wizard to open a gate outside the train station for us to pass through.”

“You’re totally confusing me.” Natsu ran a hand through his pink locks and shook his head. “Just hurry up and do it!”

“I just told you, I can’t!” she screamed in frustration. It was difficult to believe how thick-skulled the boy seemed to be. “Not to mention, the very act of a human entering the Spirit World is a  _serious_ breach of contract! I didn’t care about it when you and Makoto did it because it wasn’t even my key; it was Everlue’s!”

“I don’t get your magic at all…” Natsu groaned.

“Everlue’s key… Hold on…” Happy mumbled under his breath, the little hamster wheel in his head turning. “AHHHHH!”

Everyone flinched and turned to the cat as he hurried over to them. “I just remembered, Lucy!”

“Remembered what?” she asked.

“What I was trying to tell you on the way here!” he yelled.

“I remember, yup yup!” Maya called. “We were talking bout fish!”

“Look!” Happy dug around in his green sack and pulled out a familiar looking golden gate key.

“How’d you get your paws on Virgo’s key?! Didn’t anyone teach you that it’s wrong to steal things?!”

“But I didn’t steal it!” Happy mumbled as Lucy pinched on his lips. “Virgo asked me to give it to you!”

“Come on, guys…” Gray sighed from the sidelines. “We’re wasting way too much of our time listening to this nonsense.”

“Who’s Virgo…?” Natsu asked aloud.

Makoto placed a finger to his chin. “She was the giant pink-haired maid from Everlue’s that we traveled with through the gate. You literally mentioned that not even five minutes ago.”

“Apparently, her contract with Everlue was broken as soon as he was arrested,” Happy told them. “Before we left that day, she came up to me and told me she wanted to sign a new contract with you, Lucy!”

“Great, I get a big ugly spirit…” Lucy complained. “Anyway, thanks for letting me know, but I’ll have to deal with her later. If you didn’t realize it, right now we need to find a way out of here.”

Makoto let out a sigh at the reminder. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. ( _“I’ve just gotta think this through. It’s worked for me before, it’s gotta work now, right? All right, so force is definitely out of the question. Kage’s out cold, so we can’t count on taking down the barrier, either. And there’s no way to get around it, since it’s all the way around the station, and we can’t tunnel or fly or—”_ )

…

…

…

( _“Tunnel…?”_ ) “A-AHHHHH!”

For the third time in the last five minutes, another shout rang out, courtesy of Makoto. “Lucy, you’ve gotta summon Virgo right away!” he yelled frantically.

“What good’s that gorilla maid gonna do for us?” Natsu questioned.

“Seriously, you forgot already?!” Makoto yelled. “Virgo’s got magic as well, remember?! She can dig holes! We can get out of here!”

That caught everyone’s attention. “She can…?” Erza asked.

“Seriously?” Gray gasped.

Realizing that the duty lay with her, Lucy quickly got to her feet and activated her magic. “I call upon thee, in the world of the Celestial Spirits. I beckon you to my side at once. Pass through the gate!  _Open, Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!”_

With the customary doorbell and flash of light, the spirit appeared from the Spirit World. She was a pretty, petite, pink-haired girl dressed in a maid’s outfit. Additionally, she wore shackles and chains around her wrists.

So, in other words, someone who looked completely different from the Virgo they knew.

“You summoned, mistress? What can I do for you?” she inquired.

“Who are you?” Lucy blinked in confusion.

Natsu—who seemed to be the only one unaffected by her drastic change in appearance—smiled at her in a friendly way. “What’s up, Burger? Man, you look great; you lost some weight!”

“My name’s Virgo,” she corrected with a polite smile. “I apologize for any trouble I might have caused you.”

“She didn’t just  _lose weight_ , Natsu! She’s like a totally different person!” Lucy squeaked in disbelief.

Makoto rubbed his eyes to make sure something wasn’t distorting his vision. ( _“I think I need to lay off the guild food… Completely off-topic, but damn, I’m kinda hungry. I blame Natsu for calling her ‘Burger’.”_ )

“I’m a very loyal spirit who will do anything to please her wizard,” Virgo explained. “So I try to take on whatever form I think my wizard will find most appealing.”

“I don’t know; I kinda liked it when you were all big and tough-looking,” Natsu said honestly.

Virgo turned to look back at him curiously. “Did you really? Well, then…” In a flash of light, Virgo had grown to twice her height and her voice grew a lot deeper. “I can change back to this, if you like.”

Gray and Lucy instantly freaked out at the change. “Don’t listen to him! I’m your wizard and I liked the other form better!” Another flash of light and Virgo had reverted to her smaller appearance. “As you wish, mistress.” They both sighed with relief. Makoto scratched his head in amusement. Did it really matter all that much? Virgo would clearly still be the same person, regardless of her appearance… Oh well.

“I’m afraid we don’t have much time. Can we work out the contract details later?” Lucy requested.

“Of course,” Virgo agreed instantly. “Whatever you’d like, mistress.”

“Do you really have to call me ‘mistress’?”

“Would you prefer I call you queen?”

“No.”

“What about princess?”

“Oh yeah, that’s more like it.”

Makoto sweatdropped. He was beginning to realize that, along with a tendency for destruction, Fairy Tail wizards also had a tendency to get distracted easily. A lot. “Can we focus on getting out of here?”

Virgo’s eyes flashed and she took a bow. “Yes, sir. Now…” A magic circle appeared beneath her and she disappeared into the ground instantly, leaving behind a long and large tunnel as she went.

“Wow, look at her go!” Gray praised, in awe at the progress being made.

Makoto stared at the hole, deep in thought. ( _“That feeling again…”_ ) He’d felt it again when Virgo had dug underground. ( _“Then, all the other times it happened…”_ )

“So that’s it…” he mumbled quietly to himself as it dawned on him.

“What’s up, Makoto?” Maya asked from next to him. She spawned her wings in order to talk to him at equal eye-level.

He glanced over at her. “Just thinking out loud. My magic’s been reacting every now and then, but I think I can basically tell whenever someone is using magic to dig beneath the ground, or in walls.”

Maya nodded in understanding. “I get it! Like Virgo just now, and that weirdo Everlue!”

( _“Then that time in the station, before we went to find Natsu… I must’ve been sensing that Eisenwald guy in the wall.”_ ) Makoto tightened his grip on his arms and fought the urge to smack himself. ( _“If I’d realized what it was sooner, then maybe…”_ ) He sent a guilty glance towards Kageyama. There was nothing he could do about it now, though. The damage was done, and he’d done his best to save Kageyama afterward, so logically speaking, there wasn’t anything else he could do. Well, except maybe one thing.

“All right, you guys! Time to bust outta this joint!” Gray was momentarily distracted when he noticed that Makoto was trying—and struggling—to pick Kageyama up. “What do you think you’re doing?” Gray questioned.

“We’re—ah!—bringing him with us, remember?” Makoto replied, stumbling in his sentence a little when he almost lost his grip on the Eisenwald wizard’s arm.

Makoto blinked when a lot of Kageyama’s weight vanished from his shoulders. He looked over to see Natsu on the other side, helping him support the unconscious wizard.

“Eisenwald don’t seem to get it,” Natsu grunted as they started walking to the hole. “But guildmates help each other out.”

* * *

 

Gray climbed out of the hole in the streets and looked behind him to see the station enveloped in the tower of wind. “Looks like we made it out!” he yelled over the sound.

“Let’s head towards Clover!” Erza replied.

“Whoa, this wind is crazy!” Lucy shouted, using both of her hands to hold down both her hair and her skirt.

“Princess! I’ll keep your panties from showing!” Virgo offered as she held down on Lucy’s short skirt. She was forgetting a slight detail, though…

“You just worry about your own,” Lucy recommended as Gray got a privileged peek that he’d most likely never get again for a long time.

“It’s no use…” Kageyama groaned. The Fairy Tail wizards turned their attention towards him; they didn’t know he’d regained consciousness. “You’ll never be able to catch up to Erigor… You can’t stop us; we’ve won…”

Lucy and Gray stared the man down, hair and clothes billowing in the fierce wind. They weren’t going to give up. Fairy Tail wizards didn’t go down that easily.

It took a moment for Erza to realize that the surroundings were a little too quiet, relatively speaking. “Where’s Natsu? And Makoto?” she added as an afterthought.

“Happy and Maya aren’t here, either!” Gray shouted.

“You don’t think that they…” Lucy trailed off. It was obvious where the Dragon Slayers and their cats disappeared to.

In the skies above Clover Canyon, Erigor was quickly gaining distance towards the town of Clover. “I see the town up ahead. A bit farther and I’ll have revenge…” Erigor smirked to himself. His plans were so close to being realized. He was so absorbed in his fantasies that it took him a moment to realize that something—or some _one_ —was approaching him at high speeds.

“We’ve got you now! Didn’t know cats could fly at Mach speed, did ya?!” Natsu yelled as he held on to his cat, boosting their speed further by shooting fire from his feet. When they reached Erigor, Natsu lashed out with his already flaming feet and an explosion occurred, knocking them both out of the sky.

Natsu landed on his feet and caught an exhausted Happy in his arms. “You okay?” he inquired worriedly.

“Yeah, but… I’m so tired… Can’t fly…” he mumbled.

“Don’t worry, buddy,” Natsu smirked. He placed Happy carefully onto the train tracks. “I think I can handle it from here.”

“You again…” Erigor’s voice caused Natsu to stand up and turn around to face him. “You’re one of those pesky Fairy Tail flies. What are you doing here?”

Natsu’s hands ignited once again and he stood his ground firmly between Erigor and Clover. “I’m not lettin’ you get past me, ya dress-wearing windbag! I’m gonna burn you and that stupid flute of yours to a crisp!”

* * *

 

On the tracks closer to the Oshibana side, the Magicmobile was quickly gaining ground, speeding over the tracks in an attempt to catch up to Erigor and the Dragon Slayers. Sitting in the back were Lucy, Gray, and Kageyama, sitting mostly in silence. Having been lost in thought for most of the journey, the Shadow Wizard decided to speak up.

“So tell me,” he said. “Why are you taking me with you?”

“Because you obviously need a doctor!” Lucy responded, her voice loud from disbelief that he’d even need to ask. “And since everyone left town, you’ll have to see one in Clover. Try and show some gratitude.”

“I don’t understand…” Kageyama muttered. “Why are you helping me? We’re enemies.” Lucy let out a huff in response and didn’t answer. If he needed to ask for such an obvious answer, he could figure it out for himself.

“Oh wait, I get it. You’re taking me hostage so you can try to make a deal with Erigor.” He let out a bitter chuckle. “Well, you can forget it. He could care less about me or any of his men.”

Lucy sweatdropped. “Geez… Lighten up, dude.”

Gray frowned and looked out the window. “If you wanna die, we can make that happen.”

Kageyama and Lucy turned towards him in surprise. “Chill, Gray,” the blonde said.

“There’s a whole lot more to this world than just life and death, you know,” he continued, glancing over to the Shadow Wizard. Kageyama looked up in surprise at his next words. “You should try to look for the positive. You  _and_ your Eisenwald pals.”

Abruptly, the Magicmobile gave a huge jolt and vaulted into the air, throwing its passengers out of their seats with screams of surprise. “What happened?” Gray shouted as Kageyama attempted to shove Lucy off of him without moving too much.

“It’s okay!” the driver, Erza, insisted. “Everything’s fine now!”

“I am so sorry…” Lucy murmured as Kageyama rubbed at his face.

“Could your butt  _be_ any bigger?!”

Lucy let out a cry of outrage. “Sexual harassment! Kill him, Gray!” she ordered, turning to her fellow guildmate. “He said I had a big butt! You’re not seriously gonna sit there and let him get away with it, are you?!”

“Geez… So much for trying to have a serious moment…” Gray groaned.

* * *

 

“So you were able to break through my wind barrier…” he commented. “You little  _flies_ can be such a nuisance. Now get out of my way kid.” A magic circle formed in front of his hand. “Or else.”

Natsu gritted his teeth as he struggled against the gust Erigor had created. “Is that all you got…?!” Natsu jumped straight up into the air, using his fire to propel him, and then crashed down where Erigor was standing. He dodged and then Natsu swung again, fiery fist colliding with the blunt of Erigor’s scythe.

“What are you doing up there, you coward! Come down here and fight me like a man!” Natsu demanded. Erigor had ascended to the skies once more after they broke apart.

“Don’t get too cocky,  _fly!”_ Erigor shouted as he let loose another wind spell, picking up Natsu in a giant twister.  _”Storm Bringer!”_ Natsu cried out as he was twirled and tossed by the wind in spirals.

“Natsu!” Happy called in concern. He began to focus intensely, determined on bringing his wings out again, but gasped as his Aera Magic failed to create the feathery wings. “It’s no use! I don’t have enough magic energy!”

The twister fizzled out, but with too much momentum, Natsu was sent flying over the edge of the tracks, disappearing into the clouds of mist beneath. “Let’s see your fire power get you out of this,” Erigor taunted with a smirk.

“Natsu!”

“Man, this sucks,” Natsu complained as he fell. “I wasn’t expecting that at all! What am I gonna do now? Sorry, gramps…”

…

“ _Come on, Natsu. You can do better than that.”_

_A young Natsu watched in awe as Macao picked up a glass mug of beer, using his purple fire magic to keep it in the air. “Now watch how I do it. See?”_

“ _Whoa, that’s awesome!” Natsu breathed._

“ _Yeah, it’s called Purple Flare,” he explained as he dropped the glass back into his hand. “And even though it’s fire, it can do a lot more than just burn things.”_

“ _How come my fire burns everything it touches?” the young Dragon Slayer asked._

“ _Because you don’t know how to make it_ not  _burn,” was the answer. “You gotta learn that if you wish for it deep down in your heart, the fire will do exactly what you want it to. Once you master that, not even Wind or Water Magic can beat you.”_

_Natsu frowned and tilted his head in confusion. “That doesn’t make any sense.”_

…

As if he were tempting fate, a huge towering inferno emerged from the canyon where Natsu had disappeared into not moments before. Erigor watched in horror as the fire morphed into a hand shape and grabbed onto the tracks as if it were solid, pulling the Dragon Slayer back up from the abyss.

“That was a close one,” Natsu admitted. He clenched his fist as he recalled the words Macao had spoken to him years ago. “So that’s what you were trying to tell me. I think I get it now!”

The pink-haired wizard smirked as he eyed Erigor still hovering in the air. “You must be pretty cold up there, half naked like that. Want me to warm you up?”

“Your flames are powerless against me!” Erigor snarled.

“Oh yeah?” He pounded his fists together eagerly. “We’ll see about that.  _Fire Dragon’s Roar!”_

“ _Storm Wall!”_  Erigor brought up the spell to protect himself from the ensuing explosion when both magics collided with each other. “Although your powers are remarkable, I’m afraid you’re still no match for me! Enough of this cat and mouse chase; it’s time to get serious.”

“I’m ready when you are,” Natsu remarked.

Erigor spun his scythe between his hands.  _”Storm Mail!”_ Once the spell took place, Natsu opened his eyes to see that the Eisenwald wizard was now surrounded by winds, not too dissimilar from the wind barrier around Oshibana Station. “Here I come!”

Natsu lit his fist and punched at him, but was repelled just like the aforementioned barrier.

“What’s the matter? Can’t handle the breeze?” Erigor taunted.

“Coward!” Natsu called. “You just had to go and wrap yourself in a wind barrier! This’ll break through it!  _Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”_ Natsu pulled his fist back and swung with all his might, coming into contact with the barrier in front of Erigor’s hand… and watched in horror as his flame snuffed out. “What the…? I don’t understand. Why did my fire go out?”

“Just as I suspected, you’re completely helpless without your flames!” Erigor laughed. “Unfortunately for you, the winds of my Storm Mail blow outwardly! If you get too close, it’ll smother your flames and leave you powerless! Looks like I have the upper hand.”

Unexpectedly, Natsu broke out into a confident grin. “Oh yeah? Well, looks like you’ve forgotten one crucial detail!”

“Oh? And what’s that?” Erigor inquired.

If it was possible, his grin got even bigger. His gaze shifted to focus on something above Erigor. “I’m not the only wizard with a flying cat in Fairy Tail.”

Erigor’s eyes widened within his barrier and he had barely enough time to look up before the brown-haired boy’s combined rock fists smacked into him with a bright green glow.  _”Earth Dragon’s Impact!”_

The force of the attack was enough to break through the barrier and strike Erigor, pummeling him straight to the ground. Makoto used him as a boost to jump back over towards Natsu, the tired Maya drifting over to land beside Happy.

“Took you long enough to get here!” Natsu yelled at him.

Makoto raised an eyebrow. “Well, excuse me for not having rocket boosters in my feet. Maya flew as fast as she could.” He failed to mention the slight snag they had in catching up. Lesson learned: it was difficult to fly with Maya when she had no shirt or hoodie to hold on to. Refocusing, Makoto tossed him a small grin. “Besides… I’ve always wanted to make a dramatic entrance.”

“You… I remember you,” Erigor claimed as he pulled himself back into the air. “You were at the station with Titania.”

“That’s right, and I’m a Fairy Tail wizard!” Makoto declared. He took a step in front of Natsu. “I won’t let you carry out your plan! Plotting to kill the guildmasters—it must be all that hot air that keeps you flying. If your head’s so high up in the clouds that you think you can actually pull it off, it’s about time I brought you back down to earth!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, forgot to post the chapter :P
> 
> Oh and hey we're almost done with Eisenwald! Looks like Makoto's ready to finally throw down the gauntlet and take someone on!
> 
> (the mercenaries from chapter3 dont count it was one punch)
> 
> Still in exam hell, so no new chapters have been written unfortunately (im crying guys so sorry about that)
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	8. The Strongest Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erigor and Lullaby...

_“Earth Dragon’s Seismic Fist!”_

_“Storm Shred!”_

Caught off-guard by the spell, Makoto struggled to dodge the barrage of wind blades. A few of them nicked his arms and sides, causing a brief but intense flash of pain each time they cut skin. He grimaced but pushed past the pain, dancing around the last few blades before advancing towards his opponent. He let his fist fly and his rock-covered punch collided with the wind armor.

Unfortunately for him, the Storm Mail did its job and protected Erigor from the attack. However, he was still sent backward a few feet from the force of the punch.

Makoto jumped back to create some distance as he panted from the exertion. He’d tried all he could, but nothing seemed to be able to get around the armor. The fight was beginning to drag on, much longer than he would’ve liked. The prolonged magic use, along with the energy needed to continue avoiding Erigor’s offensive spells, was taking its toll.

( _“I can’t keep this up much longer…”_ ) Makoto gritted his teeth. Even with this magic he’d mysteriously obtained, he was still unable to help when it counted most. He looked back up at the obscured form of Erigor. It irritated him to know that he was probably smirking smugly at them right now.

( _“That spell is just like the barrier around the train station… In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same spell with a different scale. It’s not as strong, though…”_ ) Makoto paused his train of thought as he braced himself against another gust of wind that threatened to blow him right off the tracks. ( _“After all, I could break through it with enough power behind my punch.”_ )

He hazarded a glance behind him. The two cats were huddled against the metal rail of the tracks, gripping as tightly as they could to the wood beneath. Maya looked to be the less exhausted of the two, but she’d flown far and fast; she probably wouldn’t have enough magic left to get Makoto in the air. His idea might not even work again—it probably only worked the first time because they caught Erigor unaware.

 _“Earth Dragon’s Roar!”_ As soon as the wind died down, Makoto let loose his roar. The beam of rocks and light shot through the air, but Erigor easily flew out of the way. Undeterred, Makoto ran at him again, fighting off the fatigue as he pulled his magic together for another attack.  _”Earth Dragon’s Seismic Fist!”_

Once again, Erigor flew backward from the strength of the attack, but it wasn’t nearly strong enough to break through the Storm Mail. The Eisenwald wizard summoned another Storm Shred in retaliation, and Makoto was tossed backward by it, slamming into the ground a bunch of times. ( _“It’s like he’s in a bubble,”_ ) an irritated Makoto thought to himself as he struggled to his feet again. ( _“I can hit him, but it’s not actually causing any damage.”_ )

Makoto looked up as Natsu rushed past him, feet bursting fire to give him a boost to reach the airborne Erigor.  _”Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”_ Before Natsu could even get anywhere near him, his fist fire was extinguished and he was knocked back to the ground from the force of the winds.

Makoto grabbed onto his arm before he could go rushing in again. “Wait, Natsu! We need to think of another plan, that’s not going to do any good!”

He whirled around with an angry look on his face. “Oh yeah?! It’s not like you’re doing any better!”

“At least I can actually get close enough to touch him!” Makoto retorted. He opened his mouth to continue but paused when the realization of what they were doing hit him. “Damn it, Natsu, you’re rubbing off on me! I am not going to argue with you in the middle of a fight!”

“Feeling a little frustrated?” Erigor taunted as the winds raged once more. “Don’t be too hard on yourselves; you never had a chance against me!”

“We’re not giving up!” Makoto yelled at him in response. “People who think little of other’s lives… People who think they can kill others for petty things like entertainment, or money, or revenge… I won’t let you do it! I won’t let someone like you kill the guildmasters!”

“What courageous words from an insect can barely even stand!” Makoto clenched his fists at Erigor’s words. He wanted to deny it, fire back a confident reply that he was just getting started… but he couldn’t. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t for the simple fact it was true. He was exhausted. His legs were beginning to shake from the effort of keeping himself standing. His wounds ached and stung and he watched his vision slip out of focus occasionally.

But he wouldn’t give in. Behind him were the guildmasters, unaware of the danger they could be in. After everything Makarov had done for him: allowing him into Fairy Tail, offering him work, giving him the opportunity to meet wonderful new friends…

He couldn’t let Erigor reach Clover, no matter what.

“But don’t worry,” Erigor continued with a smirk. “I’m going to put an end to this now! My Soaring Phoenix Magic rips everything to shreds!  _Emera Baram!”_ A purple magic circle appeared in front of him. A few seconds later, numerous other magic circles appeared and circled around the first one.

Even from the distance, Makoto could still feel the massive amount of magic energy going towards the one attack. ( _“Is he planning to finish us off with that?!”_ )

“Natsu!” Happy cried from several meters behind them. “Don’t let that spell touch you; it’s dangerous!”

“Makoto!” Maya shouted as well. “Get out of the way!”

“Goodbye, Fairy Tail  _flies!”_ Erigor’s eyes flashed as the spell activated.

In that split second, Makoto moved.

The attack struck, causing a huge funnel of wind to tear through the tracks. Happy and Maya braced themselves against the gale, digging their claws deep into the wood. The wind was strong, but they weren’t even facing the full force of the attack. The sound of something tumbling past them caught their attention, and while they couldn’t see through the dust, it was clear what it must’ve been.

“Natsu!”

“Makoto!”

The wind tunnel lingered for a while after the attack, which had only struck a few meters in front of Erigor. Eventually, it faded away, leaving copious amounts of dust in the air. Natsu let out a moan as the dust settled and he pushed himself to his knees. Miraculously, he was somehow mostly unscathed by the attack, save for a few scratches and bumps from rolling against the ground.

That was when he noticed the boy a few feet in front of him, and he suddenly realized the reason behind his lack of injuries.

“Makoto!” he yelled. Natsu let out a few grunts from his bruises but he half-ran, half-crawled to the prostrate boy. Makoto coughed as he groaned in pain, coming back from his brief moment of unconsciousness. His torso was littered with cuts and scrapes—his punishment for jumping in front of Natsu just before the wind spell struck. Even if his shirt hadn’t already been ruined from bloodstains, it would probably be nothing but ribbons if he’d been wearing it.

“That’s gonna hurt in the morning…” He bit back a yell of pain as he flipped himself over onto his back. “Or right now…! Geez, not gonna try that again anytime soon…”

“Makotoooo!” Maya bawled as she ran over, Happy close behind. “Noooo, Makoto, you stupid, stupid, stupid-head!”

“Idiot!” Natsu shouted at him. “Why’d ya do that, huh?! Your attacks were the only ones that could hit him!”

“I’m sure you can do it, Natsu. You just need to use that head of yours for once…” Makoto offered him a weak grin as he consoled his crying cat. “I was at my limit, anyway… I wouldn’t have been able to do much else… You’re a lot stronger than me, so I know you can take him…”

Natsu glared up at the Wind Wizard. Erigor was floating in place in the air, frozen in awe that the attack hadn’t completely annihilated the Fairy Tail duo. It was only a matter of time until he was back on the offensive, though. “How am I gonna get through that barrier, though?”

“You’re not giving up, are you? If there’s something I’ve learned over the past week, Fairy Tail is notoriously stubborn…” Makoto chuckled. He immediately flinched at the pain it caused him. Maybe he broke some bones as well… Wouldn’t that just be the icing on the cake? Whatever, he still ached all over regardless.

Natsu glanced back over to him, still looking somewhat hesitant. Makoto’s eyes were bright with pain, but they also shone with a determination that Natsu often saw in the eyes of his guildmates. “I have hope that you’ll figure something out.”

The Fire Wizard held his gaze for a few moments longer before he eventually nodded. He removed his jacket, leaving him bare-chested as he laid it over Makoto. “Hold on to this for me.”

“You got it…” Makoto nodded. He couldn’t say much more; he was overcome with a strange feeling of nostalgia, like he’d witnessed a familiar scene before. The memory returned to him in a flash. Oh yeah, it was Mondo, back towards the beginning of their school life, respectfully laying his coat over Mukuro’s—Junko, as they’d thought of her at the time—skewered body.

Despite the melancholic memory, a small smile made its way onto his face. ( _“Geez, Natsu, I’m not dying.”_ )

Natsu stood up and slowly walked a few paces in front of Makoto before his fist burst into flames again. “You’re about to learn what happens when you mess with my friends,” he growled. “If you wanna kill the guildmasters, you’re gonna have to get past me!  _Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”_

“Fool!” Erigor sneered as the attack failed to connect once again, sending Natsu to the tracks again. “Your flames cannot overpower my wind; accept defeat!”

“Never!” Natsu was not discouraged by the failure of his attack. Instead, fueled on by the fires of his rage, he sucked in his breath and gathered his magic.  _”Fire Dragon’s Roar!”_

Erigor laughed maniacally as the flamethrower was easily smothered by his Storm Mail. “When will you learn?!”

Natsu, in his fit of anger, grabbed onto one of the metal rails of the track, his entire body becoming engulfed in flames. “What’s wrong with me?! I can’t even get close to him! I can’t take it anymore!” he cried as he pulled on the rail, the heat softening it and causing it to bend from his strength. “I have to beat him!”

“Wow, he’s really doing it!” Happy gasped from Makoto’s side. “He’s changing the direction of the wind! It’s even affecting Erigor’s Storm Mail!” He pointed a paw towards the Wind Wizard, who was looking at the wind surrounding him in confusion and horror.

“Natsu’s really powerful, isn’t he…?” Maya whispered. Makoto huffed with amusement and lifted a tired hand to stroke her head. “He sure is.”

( _“I get the feeling though that this is all coincidental, and he never had a plan in the first place.”_ )

Natsu screamed and shouted his anger and frustration, tearing the metal apart. Happy gasped as a lightbulb went off inside his head. “Natsu!”

“Hmm?”

“You stink,” Happy insulted, waving a paw in front of his face. “Just give up and let Gray or Makoto handle this, ‘cause you’re never gonna win.”

The fire sputtered out of existence. Natsu was left gaping at his cat partner in shock, unable to react for a few moments. Out of nowhere, the fire reappeared as a towering inferno, emanating from Natsu hotter than before as he screamed,  _”WHAT DID YOU SAY?!”_

Erigor stared in horror as the Storm Mail surrounding him disappeared due to the sheer heat of Natsu’s flames. He growled, realizing that it left him open to any attack that would be thrown at him.

“Natsu!” Makoto yelled at him. “Now!”

He turned to the Eisenwald wizard and recognized him as a target to take out his anger on. Natsu braced himself and then rocketed towards him, nailing him in the abdomen with a flaming headbutt.  _”Fire Dragon’s Sword Horn!”_

The intense and emotion-driven attack was finally powerful enough to defeat Erigor, sending him a short distance into the air and then crashing back down, unconscious from the strike. “How’d ya like that, Happy?” Natsu asked as his flames died down around him.

“Oh yeah!” he cheered. “You showed him that if you mess with the Salamander, you’re gonna get toasted!”

“You didn’t seem too sure of me earlier,” Natsu accused, sending the cat a dirty look.

“Cats have a really bad short-term memory, you know…” Happy fibbed as he smiled sheepishly at his partner.

“You said I’d never be able to beat him so I should leave it to Erza or something like that!”

“Whoa, your memory must be even worse than mine! I said Gray and Makoto, not Erza!”

“I don’t think that really matters now, anyway,” Makoto said, diffusing the argument before Natsu could yell anymore. He pulled himself into a sitting position with a wince. Probably not broken bones, but he had more than his fair share of cuts and bruises. “Erigor’s down, the guildmasters are saved and not a wrecked mansion in sight; honestly, I’m pretty happy with how this ended.”

Makoto looked up to see Natsu offering him a hand. He gratefully took it and slowly got to his feet. “Sure, but normally I’m the one pulling all the crazy stunts. You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m good.” Makoto glanced down at his injuries. It stung, and there was quite a bit of blood, but he was only bleeding slightly from the shallow cuts. It only looked like a lot of blood due to the multitude of cuts. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take too long to heal.

“It looks a lot worse than it feels,” he insisted. “I mean, it still stings like nothing else, but I think I’ll be fine. I guess we’re just a couple of stubborn, reckless dragons, right?”

Natsu grinned. “And don’t you forget it!”

“Aye!”

“Yup yup!” Happy and Maya cheered in agreement. Their attention was drawn by a shout calling out to them and they glanced back down the train tracks to see a Magicmobile slowing to a stop in front of them.

“Hey!” Natsu waved with one arm still around Makoto to steady him. “You guys just missed seeing me beat Erigor!”

“I’m proud of you, Natsu…” Erza praised. Makoto watched in concern. Her voice sounded extremely tired, and it didn’t help that she needed Lucy to help her off of the driver’s seat and steady her.

“Are you okay, Erza?” he inquired, worried for her wellbeing. She’d probably pumped a lot of magic into the car to even get there in such a short amount of time.

“Like you’re one to talk; what the hell happened to you?” Gray asked. Makoto scratched his head sheepishly.

“Basically, I jumped in front of Natsu and took a powerful attack to the stomach,” he summarized.

Lucy let out an exasperated sigh. “You’re just as reckless as Natsu is, aren’t you?”

Makoto grinned. It was the only thing he could think of at the time to keep at least one of them in good shape, but he still felt a little embarrassed for doing something so rash. “I guess so.”

“I can’t believe you had such a hard time with this guy, Natsu,” Gray sighed as he glanced over to the unconscious Wind Wizard.

Apparently, the only conversation the two of them seemed to be able to have was an argument. Honestly though, Makoto was too tired to care. They took down Erigor and saved the guildmasters; let them have their fun, he thought.

“I never said that!” Natsu retorted. “I took care of him, didn’t I?”

“I helped,” Makoto reminded him. Natsu with an inflated ego was just asking for trouble.

“You look pretty stupid wearing a scarf when you’re half naked,” Gray remarked. Natsu sweatdropped and gave him a look that screamed ‘are you serious?’ “Like you have room to talk.”

Makoto understood his disbelief—apparently, the Ice Wizard had lost his shirt in the Magicmobile. Gray glanced over at Makoto and said, “I didn’t think you were the type to toss away your shirt either. Did you get too hot or something?”

“That’s the last thing I want to hear from you.” He then threw his arms up in exasperation. “And my shirt had blood all over it! What was I supposed to do, put it back on?”

“Hey, Lucy, gimme your clothes,” Natsu demanded.

“In your dreams!” she screamed back as Erza gave an amused giggle.

“Anyway, well done Natsu and Makoto. Thanks to you two, the guildmasters are all safe. While we’re here,” Erza suggested. “I think we should stop by the guildmasters conference to tell them what happened and ask about how to properly dispose of the Lullaby flute.”

“Might as well since we’re so close to Clover!” Happy agreed.

“Sounds like a plan,” Makoto nodded. “So let’s—”

He was cut off as they all jumped to the side to avoid the Magicmobile that came crashing past them. When they looked to the driver’s seat they saw Kageyama controlling the vehicle and clutching the Lullaby flute with a shadowy claw.

“Kage!” Ezra shouted in shock.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Gray demanded.

“Lullaby’s mine now!” he crowed. “Shouldn’t have let your guard down, flies!” His laugh echoed around the canyon as the hijacked Magicmobile sped down the tracks towards Clover.

All of the Fairy Tail wizards were left gaping in shock, unable to move for a long while from the suddenness of the event.

“That bastard!”

“This is how he pays us back for saving his life?!”

“After him!”

* * *

 

Nighttime had descended over Fiore, and a lone wizard stood on the hill overlooking the building where the guildmasters conference was taking place. Kageyama tightened his grip on the wooden flute as he leaned against a tree, slightly spent from using his magic after being grievously injured.

( _“Yeah, this’ll work…”_ ) Kageyama decided. ( _“Surely they’ll be able to hear the Lullaby’s song from here. Finally, the time has come!”_ )

He suddenly jumped when he heard some strange noises behind him. He whirled around to see a short old man wearing orange clothing and a strange jester’s hat on a rock staring at an issue of Sorcerer Weekly. “There are some hot little numbers in this week’s issue. Wow! Young wizarding ladies are so much more powerful now than they were back in my day. And sexier, too!”

The man abruptly closed the magazine and held it behind his back as he hopped off of the rock. “Bah! I don’t have time for this! I need to catch up to those fools before they destroy an entire town!” He took a step and then whirled around, somehow sensing Kageyama’s presence.

“GAH!” he yelled as he began waving his arms frantically. “It’s not what it looks like I was doing some research on female wizards it was innocent and I have no reason to be ashamed—!”

“I don’t  _care_  what you’re doing,” Kageyama interrupted with a sigh.

The old man paused and stared at the numerous bandages wrapped around his torso. “You’ve been hurt badly, boy. You shouldn’t be wandering around the woods in your condition.”

“Yes sir, you’re right.” He paused as the old man let out a quiet, relieved sigh and began walking away. ( _“Hold on… That’s Makarov, the master of the Fairy Tail guild. Why do I keep running into these flies?”_ )

“Excuse me?” Makarov stopped to look back at him as he raised Lullaby into view. “I don’t suppose you’d care to hear a song? They wouldn’t let me play my flute while I was in the hospital. It’d mean a lot to play for someone again.”

“That’s one creepy-looking flute you’ve got there,” Makarov commented, staring at the skull design and jagged end.

“I know,” he laughed, trying to sound convincing. “But it has a beautiful sound.”

Makarov hummed in thought. “Well, I  _should_  be going… But I guess one song couldn’t hurt.”

“Oh, thank you!” ( _“We win!”_ ) he thought triumphantly as he raised the flute a little higher. “Be sure to listen carefully, sir.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

( _“This is it…”_ ) Kageyama thought in anticipation and breathed in. This was the moment his whole guild had been waiting for, and he’d start their revenge with the master of those annoying Fairy Tail flies. His guildmates’ words flooded back to him.

_“Who’d want to join a legal guild, anyway? They suck!”_

_“Those Fairy Tail guys are too weak to be talking such big talk!”_

_“The Lullaby’s song will be our revenge against those who stripped us of our rights and forced us to live in the darkness!”_

_“Killing innocent people isn’t going to help you get your rights back!”_

Kageyama pulled the flute slightly away from his mouth. That wasn’t said by his fellow Eisenwald members. The memory fully came back to him: it was the blonde girl, from Fairy Tail. Why had he…?

_“You should try and look for the positive. You and your buddies.”_

The half-naked fly. He’d given him that advice back in the Magicmobile, on their way to Clover to bring him to a doctor…

_“Kage! We need your help; do you hear me?!”_

The scary swordswoman had begged him, of all people. They’d put their faith in him to help them get out of the station…

_“He’s a member of your guild! He trusted you and you tried to kill him!”_

Even the crazy pyro had defended him, attacking his attempted killer, Karacka…

_“You’re going to be okay, all right? I won’t let you die.”_

Despite the fact that they were enemies… Despite the fact that Eisenwald was planning to murder the guildmasters… Fairy Tail had saved his life without a second thought when Eisenwald ruthlessly stabbed him in the back.

Kageyama hesitated.

On a slightly higher hill a short distance away, the Fairy Tail wizards finally arrived in time to see their master facing off against the flute-wielding Eisenwald member.

“There he is!” Gray shouted.

“Gramps!”

“Master!”

“Shh! We’re just about to get to the good part!” Everyone bar Erza freaked out at the sight of a bald old man wearing a pink dress, fake wings, and makeup. Gray and Natsu freaked even more when the man caught sight of them. “Well, aren’t you boys yummy? So adorable!”

“Who the heck is that guy?!” Lucy demanded as she hid behind Erza.

“Why the heck is he wearing a dress…?” Makoto whispered as he did similar in a wise attempt to avoid the strange man. One dress-wearing weirdo was enough for one day.

“Master Bob,” Erza said as her way of explanation. Bob turned his attention to the three of them.

“Erza, honey, you have really filled out.” Bob then caught sight of the cowering Makoto behind her. “And who’s this little cutie?”

“Save me…” he whimpered.

“You’re telling me this is the master of the Blue Pegasus guild?” Lucy questioned.

“Well?” Makarov prompted. Kageyama had been still and silent for a long while, staring at Lullaby while his conflicted emotions swirled inside of him. “I can’t wait all night, young man.” Kageyama looked up at him, and then slowly brought the flute to his lips.

“Oh no!” Erza shouted.

“Can you guys keep it down over there?” a guy wearing a pointy hat and a spiked dog’s collar asked. He leaned against a tree while Bob hugged the struggling Natsu and Gray. Makoto was wisely as far away as he could be. “We’re just about to get to the good part.”

“He’s with Quatro Cerberus!” Lucy realized.

Erza nodded. “That’s their master, Goldmine.”

Makarov was growing impatient at Kageyama’s hesitance. “Well?”

( _“I can do this… I just have to play_ one  _song…”_ ) he thought desperately to himself. ( _“And that will change everything!”_ )

Makarov looked down at the ground, closed his eyes, and then looked back at the wizard. “Nothing’s going to change.”

Kageyama gawked as the flute fell away from his mouth. The crowd of wizards and masters nearby turned their attention to the Fairy Tail master as he continued.

“You cannot change the fact that those who are weak will forever remain weak. Now, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I mean, we humans are weak creatures by nature. Our insecurities are the reason the guilds even exist… And, they’re why we have friends. When we’re surrounded with allies, it’s easier to stay positive about the future.”

“Think of it this way,” Makarov suggested. “If we’re clumsy, then we may stumble and bump into things. But as long as we have faith in our future, we continue marching forward; our inner strength emerges on its own. But we have to  _choose_  that path and pledge to live our lives to the fullest. Don’t let that silly flute get in the way.”

The wind blew through the trees as Makarov’s speech finally made its impact on Kageyama. The wooden flute slipped from his grasp and clattered to the ground. Kageyama collapsed to his hands and knees. “I surrender…” he admitted, his head facing the ground.

“Master!”

“You stopped him!”

“Good job, Gramps!” Makarov flinched and turned in surprise. The Fairy Tail wizards rushed over, congratulating him and thankful that their master was safe and sound.

“Wha…? How did you kids end up in Clover?!” Makarov wondered aloud.

“Master Makarov! Your words touched me so deeply I was almost moved to tears!” Makarov was moved to tears for a different reason as he’d just been swept up in one of Erza’s tight hugs—which meant he got a face full of metal plate. “Owwww…”

“Well, it looks like we got here just in time to watch Gramps talk his way out of another one,” Gray smiled. Natsu was joyfully patting Makarov on the head while Makoto and Lucy bent down beside Kageyama to check on his condition.

“You shouldn’t have moved around so much and used your magic,” Makoto said as he checked his bandages. There were a few splotches of red staining the cloth, but other than that he seemed to be in okay condition.

“Yeah, whatever…” Kageyama huffed dismissively.

The Dragon Slayer gave a small smile as Lucy continued to fuss over him. In his opinion, Kageyama was just as much of a victim when you got down to it. His guildmate had tried to kill him just because he could free the Fairy Tail wizards from the station, and in the end he’d surrendered without using Lullaby on anyone. Makoto felt that, with Erigor defeated, Eisenwald captured and the Lullaby flute retrieved, the long day could finally come to an end.

Which, of course, was the moment everything went wrong.

“ **AHAHAHA! I’ve grown _tired_  of you cowardly wizards and your antics!**” Makoto jumped to his feet, everyone searching around to try and determine where the voice was coming from.

“Makoto! There!” He followed Maya’s pointing paw to see the Lullaby flute giving off an eerie purple glow from the eye sockets and copies amounts of smoke. In a flash, a giant magic circle formed in the sky. Lightning crackled and lanced out from it.

“ **I can no longer hold back,** ” the mysterious disembodied voice said. The black smoke black rose higher and higher until it finally reached the center of the magic circle. “ **I shall come forth to devour you myself!** ”

The instant the smoke made contact with the circle, the flute glowed brightly and changed shape in a matter of seconds. When Makoto glanced back towards it, it had transformed into a towering demon of wood, easily fifty meters tall, with three glowing eyes placed above a gaping mouth.

“ **I shall feast… upon your pitiful souls!** ” Lullaby declared.

( _“It’s… It’s… Holy crap…!”_ ) Makoto’s mouth was hanging open in shock, but no noise would come forth.

“It’s so big!” Lucy screamed, unknowingly voicing Makoto’s own thoughts.

“Way to state the obvious!” Happy retorted.

“What is that thing?!” Kageyama shouted in confusion. “Erigor never said anything about a monster!”

Bob placed a hand near his mouth, a nervous smile hiding behind it. “We’re in a pickle…”

“It must be a demon from the Book of Zeref,” Goldmine deduced.

“Why’d the flute have to turn into a giant evil monster tree?!” Maya wailed. She’d hidden behind Makoto’s back as soon as the monster had taken form, clutching tightly to his shoulders with her paws.

“That’s what Lullaby’s true form looks like in the flesh,” the Quatro Cerberus guildmaster explained. “It’s forbidden black magic: Living Magic. Zeref’s specialty.”

“Living Magic?” Erza echoed.

“Who’s Zeref?” Gray inquired. “Wasn’t he some ancient wizard?”

“He’s the most evil wizard the world has ever known,” Bob told them. “He was very powerful in his day. But in my wildest dreams, I’d never thought his dark legacy would pop back up again!”

“ **Now then…** ” Lullaby said as it leaned in close to the group of wizards. “ **Which of these delectable souls shall I dine on first?** ”

“Delectable, huh…?” Natsu growled. Abruptly he turned to Gray and asked with an excited tone, “Do you think souls are really that tasty?”

“How should I know what they taste like?” Gray replied dryly, irritated by the idiotic question.

“Why are you always thinking about eating?!” Lucy questioned in frustration.

Erza turned to the two rival wizards and commanded, “Natsu and Gray, get everyone to a safe place!”

“Quit barking orders!”

“Yeah, you’re not the boss of us!”

Erza sent a hard glare in their direction. “Just do it!”

Apparently, that was all the motivation they needed. “Aye!” they shouted as they ran off on their merry way.

The Lullaby demon turned its attention from the group of wizards to somewhere in the distance. Noticing, Makoto looked to where it was staring. It was quite a ways away, but through the trees he thought he could make out a few orange flags with emblems.

A somewhat familiar emblem.

( _“The army…?”_ ) he questioned in his mind. He remembered the last time he’d seen them—that had been back in Hargeon after Natsu destroyed the harbor. ( _“What are they going to do?”_ )

Lullaby’s wooden face seemed to twist in infuriation. Makoto guessed that it must’ve overheard something even his keen ears couldn’t hear, and it didn’t like it at all.

“ **You doubt my power?! I’ll prove it to you!** ” A magic circle in front of Lullaby’s maw and before Makoto could even blink, a white beam of light fired out of it. It shot off into the distance, twinkling in front of a mountain before the entire sky lit up. They all shielded their eyes, and when the light finally died down enough to see the damage, the entire mountaintop was missing.

( _“Wha… I-It just—! A whole mountaintop… gone, just like that…”_ ) A monster that could obliterate anything with ease… He’d never seen anything like it. Makoto struggled to keep himself from shaking in fear. He knew that if he even opened his mouth to speak, his voice would tremble. The fear filling him now even rivaled his panic when he discovered the truth behind his world’s fate.

“ **I have no need for those pathetic humans,** ” Lullaby said as the army retreated to a safer distance. “ **I prefer the taste of a wizard’s soul, and I will consume all of yours!** ” It let out a piercing roar, causing all of those present to cover their ears to vainly protect them from the auditory assault.

“Makoto!” Once the demon’s cry had ended and his ears had stopped ringing, the boy picked up on his name being called. His head shot up and he looked over to Natsu, who was looking at him with an expectant look. He, Erza, and Gray were all in battle stances, prepared to take on the monstrous beast.

“What are you waiting for?” Natsu clenched his fist, a courageous fire burning in his eyes. “It’s time to burn that flute to a crisp and pound it to dust!”

Makoto’s eyes widened. ( _“M-Me? But, what can I do…? I… I can’t…”_ )

And slowly, as the trio of wizards continued to stare at him with encouraging looks, Makoto began to realize something.

( _“This empty feeling… This overpowering, helpless feeling that’s threatening to consume me… I’ve felt it before.”_ ) He shot a glance towards the others gathered a distance away; Lucy, Happy, and Maya among them. ( _“They’re feeling it too, so… Whether it’s this world or my world…”_ )

He made his decision. Makoto rushed over to stand by his friends of Fairy Tail. Erza withdrew two swords and asked, “Ready?”

“Oh yeah,” they all responded. Makoto narrowed his eyes in determination. ( _“I won’t let them fall into despair!”_ )

They charged along the ground, heading for the monster. Erza was the first to activate her magic with a shout of,  _“Requip!”_ Light engulfed her form and she leaped into the air. The glow burst to reveal her Heaven’s Wheel armor—it granted her a short time of flight, which was just enough to slash across Lullaby’s chest.

Gray was next to have a go at it. He paused in his run to spread his legs, settling into a stance with one fist placed on his splayed palm. “ _Ice Make: Lance!”_ The magic circle in front of him shot out numerous icy shots straight towards the demon, hitting him head on.

“Our turn, Makoto!” Natsu called as he jumped, flames spurting from his feet to give him a boost. Makoto would’ve liked to follow, but the jump was too massive for him to handle and he wanted to keep Maya out of the fight. Coming to a stop just before Lullaby, Makoto sucked in a deep breath at the same moment Natsu pulled back his flaming fist.

_“Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”_

_“Earth Dragon’s Roar!”_

Natsu’s punch struck Lullaby with such force it reeled backward. Makoto’s roar brushed past where its knee would be—slightly off-center since he’d yet to fully recover from his earlier fight, but it hit enough of its leg to cause Lullaby to stumble and become unsteady.

“He just punched the demon with fire!”

“Look at him blast it with earth!”

“I didn’t know Ice Magic could do that!”

“That girl can requip her armor!”

The massive group of guildmasters watched in awe from a safe distance as the wizards went to work. They’d all heard of Fairy Tail, of course, and its destructive tendencies, but who could’ve imagined they’d be this strong?

“ **You are making me _angry!”_** The wizards jumped out of the way of Lullaby’s swing. It missed and decimated the hill they’d just been standing on instead, but the wizards were too focused to be worried by the display of strength. Erza slashed across the wooden body with her swords. Gray formed an ice crossbow and fired ice shots at it. Natsu lashed out with his fire whips. Makoto remained at a distance to continue sending roars its way.

Lucy, Happy, Maya, Kageyama and the rest of the guildmasters watched in awe from a safe distance as the wizards went to work. “Yeah! Kick its wooden tushy, Makoto!” Maya cheered excitedly.

“That’s incredible!” Kageyama gaped. “Their combination attacks are so powerful!”

“And they’re in sync!” Lucy admired.

“Aye!” Happy proudly agreed.

Inevitably, there was a momentary pause in Fairy Tail’s onslaught. Lullaby used the break to its advantage and began sucking in its breath loudly, causing the magic circle above it to briefly expand before focusing around its mouth.

“This can’t be good!”

“Here comes its song!” Lucy and Happy yelled in response.

“I don’t wanna go to sleep yet!” Maya wailed.

The blonde Celestial Wizard let out a gasp as she noticed something odd was happening to their surroundings. “Look! All the plants are dying!”

“Lullaby is sucking the life out of them!” Happy realized.

“ **Just one note and your souls will be mine!** ” Everyone pressed their hands to their ears to brace themselves for the deadly song. However, most of them knew they would likely not survive. Even a whisper of the tune could kill. Lullaby prepared itself and—

A squeaky, breathy sound emitted from its body.

The bystanders beneath looked at one another with confusion. “ **I don’t understand!** ” Lullaby cried. “ **Why can’t I play my melody of death?!** ”

“It must be because of all those attacks!” Kageyama deduced.

“They punched so many holes in that thing; it totally messed up its sound!” Lucy added. “All that buildup for this? Take about going out with a whimper.”

“Yeah, flutes are pretty lame to begin with,” Happy shrugged.

“I hear people really like ukuleles these days,” Maya chirped.

“ **You dare mock me?!** ” Lullaby shouted as the squeaky sound continued when it screamed. It angrily kicked down a mountain and then turned to the group of guildmasters. Its eyes flashed and the bystanders recoiled when an enormous explosion occurred in front of them.

 _“Ice Make: Shield!”_ They looked up to see Gray in front of them, a large sheet of ice reminiscent of a flower blocking the flames from advancing any further.

“ **I will kill you all!** ” Lullaby declared in anger. Its attention was grabbed when the forest fire flew off to the side in streams where it was quickly eaten up by Natsu. He grinned and swiped a hand in front of his mouth, the fire giving him a boost in power. “Oh yeah? Now I’ve got a fire in my belly!”

“ **You’re not human! You’re a monster!** ”

“Like you can talk!” he snapped back after avoiding the punch and rushing up Lullaby’s arm. “ **Stop climbing on me!** ” Using its other hand, Lullaby easily swatted Natsu off of his arm, sending him crashing back to the ground.

Erza requipped again, substituting her Heavens’ Wheel armor for something different. Her new armor was black with silver designs, with a pair of wings attached to the back of it. Her Black Wing armor, which would amplify the power of her attacks.

Gray used his Maker Magic to create an ice saw and launched it at Lullaby. It cut past the lower part of its torso just as Erza swooped in to strike with her sword across its face. The strength of the two blows was enough to unbalance the towering demon once again.

“Natsu!”

“Now!” Erza and Gray called respectively after they’d created an opening.

“Makoto, give me a lift!” The brown-haired boy jerked from being called, but nodded back to him. Scooping up a few rocks from the various piles of rubble around, he tossed them into his mouth. Being an Earth Dragon Slayer, he easily crushed the stones in his mouth and felt his magic boost in response.

“All right, I’m ready!” Makoto called as he crouched down, positioned between the sprinting Natsu and Lullaby. He put his hands together and earth surrounded them as if he were preparing an Earth Dragon’s Impact, but he kept the magic contained as Natsu ran to him.

Natsu placed his foot on his hands not a moment later. Makoto focused all of his magic into his hands and hurled Natsu into the air with all the power he could muster. In an instance of his very rare good luck, the throw had left Natsu directly in front of Lullaby’s face.

“The flames of my right hand and the flames of my left… Put the two together…!” Natsu slapped his fiery hands together, forming a giant fireball. He glared down at Lullaby as he shouted, “And this is what you get!  _Fire Dragon’s Brilliant Flame!”_

The enormous fireball enveloped Lullaby, blasting it backward and destroying it in a blast of white light. The light faded and Lullaby was returned to its non-threatening flute form, abandoned on the ground. The eyes lost their creepy purple glow and the flute crumbled into pieces.

“Well done,” Makarov congratulated.

“You’re amazing!” Bob gushed.

Goldmine chuckled. “You kids made defeating Zeref’s demon look easy.”

“I can’t believe how strong they are…” Kageyama whispered. “Are all of the Fairy Tail wizards as powerful as these four?!”

“There’s no doubt about it!” Lucy cheered as the dust cleared and revealed Gray, Erza, Natsu and Makoto. “This is the strongest team!”

“Aye!”

“Yup yup!”

“We’re an awesome guild, aren’t we?!” Makarov declared. The Fairy Tail wizards all came together, congratulating each other and laughing along as friends. Maya landed on Makoto’s head and he stroked her behind the ears.

“They may be a bunch of fools…” Kageyama muttered a short distance away with a tear in his eye. “But they’re stronger than I am…”

Bob picked him up in a hug from behind and said, “We’ve got to get you to a doctor, you precious thing!”

“I can feel your stubble!”

“I can’t exactly say I know what just happened,” Goldmine said, paying no mind to Kageyama’s struggles to escape the Blue Pegasus guildmaster. “But it’s obvious we owe a big round of thanks to the Fairy Tail guild.”

“We do?” one of the other masters asked.

“Even so, I must say…” another one trailed off.

The Fairy Tail wizards seemed to catch on and they looked behind them to see a large smoking crater just behind them. “They went overboard!”

“The conference hall’s been destroyed!” Lucy whimpered.

“Aye!” Happy agreed.

Maya smiled. “I think we’re missing a few mountaintops, yup yup!”

Natsu chuckled with glee. “We really made a mess of the place, didn’t we?”

“I don’t think that’s something to be happy about, Natsu…” Makoto groaned, but he couldn’t hide his own grin. He couldn’t deny that he was absolutely ecstatic from what they’d just accomplished. Not even something like a little property damage could bring him down from cloud nine.

“I guess kids do take after their parents,” Goldmine commented.

“They remind me of us when we were young wizards…” Bob reminisced.

“Back in ancient times?” Kageyama joked.

“You know, when I was younger I looked just like you, Kage!”

“I’M GOING TO BE  _BALD_  AND  _FAT?!”_

“So what do you think?” Goldmine questioned the shell-shocked Shadow Wizard. “Now that you’ve seen what it’s like to be part of a legitimate magic guild.”

“They’re much more fun than the dark guilds,” Bob nodded.

“You guys trying to catch somebody?” Natsu obliviously inquired to the furious guildmasters. “I’ll do it for ya!”

“You’re the one we’re after!”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s right!” Fairy Tail ran away from the mob of angry guildmasters, laughing to themselves at their job well done. Damaging buildings was the norm for them; why bother worrying about it this time?

Makoto laughed right alongside them. Even with him stranded in an unfamiliar world with strange rules and separated from the others, there was little that could truly get him feeling down for long. If he wanted someplace to stay and develop his magic while searching for the others, Fairy Tail would welcome him into their weird little family with open arms.

Besides, he had hope he’d find the others again. He had hope that everything would work out in the end.

And so he enjoyed the moment with his new friends. His new guildmates. His new team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the awful ending I had no idea how else to end it.
> 
> Wow I literally have nothing to say here.
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	9. Natsu Devours a Village

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto and the others attempt to cross Clover Canyon—on foot. It goes about as well as you'd expect from Fairy Tail wizards.

Alzack Connell, a member of the Fairy Tail guild, knelt down by a footprint in the dusty earth. He ran his hand along the imprint. “There’s no doubt about it; these are definitely their footprints. From the looks of it, it’s been two days since they were here.”

His partner, Bisca Mulan, stood a distance behind him. “If that’s the case, then they should have reached Magnolia a long time ago.” She crossed her arms as Alzack inspected the footprint further, picking up a loose pebble between his thumb and finger.

They were on the Clover side of the canyon, reached via the newly reopened train from Oshibana. The station was quick to open again, considering it was the only means over the canyon, but the badly damaged sections were off-limits to members of the public while the station crew fixed it. After failing to return once the train line was accessible again, the two of them had been dispatched to look around for Makarov and the supposed ‘strongest team’.

“Could mean trouble. Now what?” Bisca asked.

Alzack let out a sigh. The direction of the tracks made it obvious that the group had been heading further into the depths of Clover Canyon, which made sense if the tracks were made two days ago. The train line wouldn’t have been open then, so they probably attempted to cross the canyon by foot.

A stupid idea, but one pretty much expected when it came to Fairy Tail. After all, Clover Canyon was more akin to a labyrinth in its deepest sections. He didn’t like the decision he had to make, but going in after the team was an even stupider idea.

“It’s probably best if we give our report to the guild,” he finally said.

“We’re going back?” Bisca questioned in a disbelieving tone.

“There’s nothing more we can do here.”

The trip back took them a few hours, as they had to ride out of the canyon and then catch the train from Oshibana. The trip was mostly silent, both wizards unhappy with the results they came up with. As soon as they arrived back at the guild, they reported back to Mira—who was basically the impromptu person-in-charge when Makarov was away.

The news didn’t alleviate her concerns. Quite the contrary, after hearing them out she let out a worried moan. “Ohh… I need to give them a message from the council right away.”

“Don’t blame me,” Bisca said, shooting a small glance towards her partner. “I _wanted_ to go after them.”

“There’d be no point,” Alzack argued back. “I know you’re worried, but Clover Canyon is a death trap. Even with someone from a hunter’s guild to guide you, it would swallow you up and never spit you out.”

“But if it’s a dangerous maze of canyons, why would they even want to go in there?” Bisca questioned. It just didn’t make any sense; why not just wait for the train line to open again?

“I dunno, but it must be important.” Mira placed a hand to her cheek, expertly balancing her serving tray with her other. “I’m sure the master can handle things, but I’m still a little worried.”

* * *

 

Back in the depths of the canyon, a group of weary wizards made their way across the deserted landscape. The little blue cat approached the fissure along the ground and stopped, accidentally kicking a pebble as he did. The pebble fell off the cliff edge and disappeared into the black abyss, echoing as it went.

“Ah, geez!” Lucy exclaimed in disappointment. “Don’t tell me you’ve got us lost again! We’ve been walking for forever and a half and we still haven’t found Magnolia yet! _Why are we following a cat anyway?!_ ”

“What do you mean, ‘again’?” Happy cried indignantly. “How rude! I wasn’t lost _last_ time, so this is the _first_ time I’ve gotten us lost!”

Makoto let out a tired sigh. “So you _do_ admit that we’re lost.”

“First time or not, let’s just try to make it our last, okay?” Lucy let out a groan as she clutched at her stomach. Makoto scanned the group to see everyone practically mirroring her.

“Man, I want some food…” Natsu whined.

“We _all_ do,” Gray shot back. “Talking about it just makes us hungrier.”

As expected, the two of them instantly took it as an excuse to get into another argument once again. “I can’t help it if I’m hungry, jerk!”

“No, but you can stop running your mouth, can’t you?!”

“You’d think with all that energy to argue, they don’t need to eat,” Makoto commented to Maya, who made a noise of acknowledgment from his head.

Arguments between the two were a regular occurrence for the past few days; as if fights involving them weren’t already commonplace. Unsurprisingly, being lost at the bottom of a canyon with no food meant that whatever patience members of the group may have had was beginning to run thin.

They were hasty in their escape from Clover. They had to get out before the angry guild masters remembered they could use magic or the army finally manned up and appeared. Of course, they’d forgotten the small fact that the Clover Station was closed down at the time. After all, Erigor’s wind barrier was still up around Oshibana’s train station; it would have taken a while before someone came to take it down since the whole town was evacuated, and then the mess from the guilds colliding would need to be cleaned up…

The Fairy Tail wizards weren’t left with many options, so Makarov—in all his infinite, guild masterly wisdom—decided that they would brave Clover Canyon on foot, declaring that ‘if a canyon could beat them, what kind of wizards were they?’

Needless to say, without proper preparation, the group of eight quickly burned through whatever food they had. They’d run out by the end of their second day. Another day and a half passed by, dragged out by the walking and lack of food. They still couldn’t find any food or a way out of the depths of the canyon.

“Hey, Makoto?”

“Hmm?” He instinctively tilted his head up to look at Maya. Of course, with her eagle-spread on his head, he couldn’t see any of her furry face.

“Do you think it would be Natsu?”

“What?”

“If someone snapped and tried to eat everyone else,” she replied plainly. “I think it would be Natsu.”

Makoto opened his mouth, struggling to find some sort of way to respond to that, but eventually let out a sigh that was both amused and tired. He let her return to her daydreams, not particularly in the mood to try and continue that certain line of conversation.

Inwardly, though, he silently admitted it’d probably be Natsu.

“Listen up!” Everyone paused as Makarov raised his voice. He dropped his stern look and complained, “We need food…”

“Yeah, we know!” Natsu and Gray shouted.

“Enough!” Erza interrupted. Makoto wasn’t surprised to see her trying to take control of the situation—especially since Makarov had long since abandoned any responsibility related to keeping his guild wizards under control. Normally, Makoto would be happy to be the peacemaker himself. He didn’t like seeing his friends fight. But really, he didn’t think the guys would listen to him anyway. Besides, he’d only just managed to pick up a new shirt before they left Clover—he didn’t want any burns or rips.

He felt he’d gotten to know the armored wizard a little better over the past few days—perhaps the only highlight of the trip—and it was clear she cared deeply about the state of the guild and its members, if their first meeting was any indication. Besides, Natsu and Gray feared her a lot for some reason; enough to listen when she told them to put a sock in it.

Before Erza could say anything beyond her initial command, the familiar sound of a growling stomach resounded around the empty canyon.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

“Your stomach’s trying to tell you something, isn’t it?” Natsu stared blankly at her. His question was more like a statement, though, and everyone knew it was obvious where the sound had come from.

“No, it’s not,” she argued regardless, attempting to save face. “You’re hearing things!”

“Uh, yeah,” Gray said. _“Real_ convincing, Erza.”

As Erza refused to admit the glaringly obvious truth, Makoto watched from the sidelines in slight amusement. Whether or not she realized it, in her attempt to stop the arguing, she herself had been dragged into it. His small smile fell from his face after a short while.

( _“We’ve managed this long without food, but we still need to get out of this canyon.”_ ) He reached up to stroke Maya, who happily leaned into his hand. ( _“And I don’t think we’ll get out of here in one piece without the others getting food.”_ )

“Come on, guys,” Makoto encouraged, deciding to speak up. His shirt would be the least of his worries if they didn’t get going. “I’m sure we’ll find something edible somewhere, or even a way out of this place. We just need to keep going.”

Gray looked over to him and crossed his arms. “How the heck are you always so positive?”

Makoto thought about it for a while. Eventually, he shrugged, offering a dry smile. “It’s a talent.”

Everyone’s attention was diverted when Happy suddenly made an overdramatic gasp and then squealed in delight. “What are you excited about?” Natsu asked.

“Down there!” Happy cried ecstatically. “Look, Natsu, _look!”_

Makoto and the others crept over to the edge and peeked over to see what the cat was desperately pointing at. A few dozen meters below them was a whole school of blue and yellow fish, swimming through the air as naturally as if it was water. Strangely enough, they were also yelling something, or singing. Makoto wasn’t sure which, but it definitely felt a little weird to watch fish flying through the air, speaking their words with a lyrical intonation.

( _“This place just gets weirder as each day goes by.”_ )

“Those are wing fish!” Happy exclaimed. “They’re a legendary delicacy! And they’re super yummy from what I hear!” He was so lost in his whatever fantasy world he was dreaming up, all he could do was just repeat the word ‘yum’ over and over again like a broken record.

The wizards were eyeing the swarm of flying fish curiously. “A legendary delicacy?” Gray echoed skeptically.

“Wing fish, huh…?” Erza hummed thoughtfully.

“Sounds good to me,” Natsu murmured excitedly. His eyes were shining with hunger.

Happy turned when Makarov placed a hand on his shoulder, nodding with tears in his eyes. “Well done, Happy. You make this old man very proud.”

“Come on, guys,” Lucy sighed. “Enough with the growling stomachs!”

_Groooowl…_

“You were saying?”

“Shut up, Gray.”

“Now… Time to fish!” Happy picked up a stick of wood from the ground and quickly fashioned a basic fishing rod from the stick, some string, and a hook. The latter two additions were procured from his sack. In no time, the entire group was decked out with fishing rods of their own, sitting on the cliff edge and attempting to catch fish. Even Maya had crawled from her nap perch to help out.

 _“Ninety nine fishies swimming through the air~! Ninety nine delicious fiish~!”_ the tabby cat hummed quietly to herself, just barely fitting the words into the tempo of the tune.

“Ah, come on, ya stupid fish!” Only five minutes in and Natsu was already firing off complaints like they were his punches in a brawl. “Just shut up and let me eat ya!”

“We gotta fish harder, guys!” Happy declared.

“I don’t know. Are you sure these things really taste that good?” Lucy inquired unsurely.

“Gonna have to agree there,” Makoto added. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the fact that my lunch can talk.”

“Be quiet and fish,” Erza ordered curtly. “Anything edible will do.”

Makoto shrunk back apologetically. “Y-Yeah, right.” He should have thought a little before opening his mouth to complain. They were in no position to be picky with the food they came across.

Lucy looked towards her in shock. “I didn’t know you were _that_ hungry.”

“You’re going in my belly! Right now, ya hear?!” Off to the side, Happy was determinedly shouting at the fish, as if that would make them latch onto the hook any faster. He clutched the rod tighter in his little blue paws. “Happy’s gonna eat you, fish!”

There was a moment of tense silence.

“Whatever, I give up,” Happy said, abandoning his rod on the ground.

“That was fast!” Lucy said incredulously.

Happy looked down in dismay. “But I couldn’t catch a single fish…”

“You really wanna eat one, don’t ya?” Lucy prodded. When he looked up she gave him a warm, comforting smile. “You shouldn’t give up so easily. You can do it, little guy!”

“I can’t help that I’m little!” Happy cried as he burst into tears, fleeing from Lucy to run towards Natsu.

“What?! I thought I was cheering you up!”

* * *

 

Makoto ran his fingers through his hair, barely holding back a dismayed sigh. Half an hour passed by too long, and all they had to show for it was one measly wing fish. “That was harder than you’d think,” Lucy moaned.

“All that trouble for one fish…” Erza sighed as Natsu used his flames to roast it in a matter of seconds.

“Happy, Maya, you go ahead and eat it,” he told the cats.

Happy frowned. “But that wouldn’t be fair to you guys, would it?” Maya added nothing to it, but it was clear in her face that she echoed Happy’s spoken opinion.

“It’s way too small to split up between all of us,” Gray pointed out. “There’s barely enough for the two of you. If we had a bite, we’d just want more.”

“Hurry up and eat it before we change our minds!” Makarov yelled at them.

“Okay!” Happy seemed to get over his hesitation quickly enough and picked the fish up. He tore it in half, handing Maya the tail half of it and happily chomping into the head. “Don’t mind if I do!”

Maya wasn’t so willing, and she looked uncertainly at the portion of the wing fish she held. “Are you sure…?”

Makoto crouched down closer to her level and placed his hand on her head. “We want you to eat it. It’s important for you to keep your strength up too, right?”

The tabby glanced up at him and then back at the fish. “Yup yup…” she agreed, albeit with lingering unsureness. She opened her mouth and raised the fish to it.

“GROSS!” Happy yelled out, hacking and spitting at the ground in a vain attempt at ridding his taste buds of the horrible flavor.

“Are you kidding me?!” Lucy shouted incredulously. After all the effort, and the cat _still_ wasn’t happy with their results?

Maya gently put the fish back on the ground. “I don’t think I’m hungry anymore.”

Makoto frowned in response. He really wanted Maya to at least eat _something,_ but considering that Happy—the self-proclaimed King of the Fish—had rejected it so adamantly, he didn’t feel it was fair to force her to eat anything. And so he accepted her decision, blocking out the sound of her rumbling belly as they set off across the canyon once again.

“I hate to say it, but…” Natsu began after a few minutes of walking.

“All that fishing…” Gray continued.

“Made me hungrier…” Makarov finished. The sun was crawling higher in the sky and beginning to beat down on them with more heat. The group was reaching their limit after so long, and the wing fish incident only served to remind them of their hunger. Noisy stomachs resounded around the canyon for perhaps the seventeenth time that day.

Natsu stopped.

There was another sound he was picking up on besides grumbling stomachs.

He whirled around abruptly to the origin of the sound, causing the others to stop and follow his line of sight as well. The culprit froze like a deer in headlights from all the pairs of eyes on them, catching them in the middle of chewing with a small collection of round objects sitting in the palm of their hand.

Makoto gulped.

“You traitor!” Makoto let out a squeak of surprise as his fellow Dragon Slayer leaped at him and tackled him to the ground. The impact disorientated him for a moment, which was more than enough for Natsu to wrestle the pile from his fist. “You were hiding this?! How could you?!”

Realizing the pile was now in the hands of an impulsive hungry Fire Wizard, he stammered, “N-No, wait, you can’t eat those!”

“I bet you just want them all to yourself, you greedy jerk!”

“That’s not it!” he insisted frantically. “They’re—!”

“Makoto!” He stiffened as Erza turned her furious gaze to him. “We’re all hungry; how could you not think to share with the rest of us?!”

“Y-You don’t understand! I can explain—!”

“Eugh!” He was distracted when Natsu made a face and spat something out of his mouth. Looking at the pile of spit, it also contained crunched pieces of one of the balls he’d taken from Makoto. “The heck is this stuff? It’s disgusting!”

“They’re stones, okay?” Makoto finally admitted. His tone of voice was slightly exasperated, tired from the multiple interruptions. “Pebbles. Rocks, you know, that I literally picked up off the ground.” To prove his point, he reached out to the ground next to him, digging his hand into the dusty ground. Amongst the soil were a collection of numerous small stones. Natsu looked down at the pile in his hands; they did look identical.

“But why rocks?” Lucy asked.

“Earth Dragon Slayer, remember?” Makoto gestured to himself as he spoke. “I’ll admit, it doesn’t do much in the department of actually being food, but it refuels my magic. I guess it helps fight off the hunger.”

“Why did you try to hide it from us, then?” Gray inquired.

Makoto ran a hand through his hair as he looked guiltily to the side. “Well, I…”

“It was my idea,” Maya spoke up out of the blue. Makoto looked at her in shock as the other wizards turned shifted their attention. “It happened last night…”

…

_“Makoto?”_

_“Maya?” The hopeful boy turned at the sound of her voice from behind. Makoto’s eyes had long since adjusted to the dark, so he had no problem making out the shape of his kitty companion clambering up the tall rock he was sat on. The rest of his friends were lying down in a vague circle just near the boulder; it was his turn to stay up for a while on watch._

_He watched as she slowly padded over to his side. “What are you still doing awake?”_

_“I dunno,” was her quick and honest answer. She plopped herself down beside him, apparently content with the silence. Makoto stared at her for a short while before turning his gaze back to the empty expanse of the canyon._

_He gritted his teeth at the pang of hunger that suddenly appeared. It felt weird to acknowledge, but this wasn’t the first time he’d been trapped, in a sense, with no food or water. Unfortunately, there’d be none of his friends to fall into a pile of garbage bags with bread for him._

_“Hey, Makoto!” Just as he was about to become lost in memories and thoughts about where the others were, Maya’s irritated voice broke through to him. Jerking a little in surprise, he turned to see her puffing out her cheeks. “Geez, you need to pay attention when someone’s speaking to you! It’s rude to ignore.”_

_“Sorry,” he chuckled, petting her head apologetically. “What were you saying?”_

_She let out a huff, but she seemed to accept his apology. “I was gonna say you should try eating some rocks.”_

_“Rocks?”_

_“Yup yup.”_

_“But… Why?”_

_“I’m just worried about you,” she admitted, a small frown on her face. “You_ can _eat rocks, can’t you? I’ve seen you do it before. And Natsu’s a Dragon Slayer too, and he eats fire and stuff! So, ya know… I thought it was an idea.”_

_Makoto stared at Maya for a few moments and then glanced away, lost in thought._

…

“He argued at first ‘cause he didn’t think it was right for him to be the only one eating,” Maya explained. “But I convinced him to at least eat something. After all, he wouldn’t have been a very good lookout if he couldn’t fight off the enemy ‘cause of hunger, yup yup.”

“I guess I just caved since it’s hard to resist when the entire landscape looks like a giant buffet,” Makoto said somewhat jokingly, throwing his hand out to wave at the rocky canyon surroundings. Still, he let out an embarrassed sigh and bowed his head. “I shouldn’t have anyway; it’s not fair to you guys, so… I’m sorry.”

“No.” Makoto’s head shot up when Erza suddenly spoke. “What’s not fair is to deprive you of food simply because the rest of us are unable to eat it. You had good intentions behind your actions as well. You did nothing wrong, Makoto.”

Makoto frowned, still unconvinced from her reassurance. “Are you guys… sure?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Gray added, folding his arms. “We don’t blame you or anything.”

“Speak for yourself!” Natsu cried out, mouth hanging open. “My mouth still hurts from those stupid rocks!”

“Well then, maybe you should _think_ before you start shoving things down your gullet, flame-brain!”

“Gray.” The Ice Wizard glanced over as Makoto interrupted their argument. Makoto gave a sheepish smile as he pointed towards him. “Where are your clothes?”

“GAH! How does this keep happening?!”

Makoto let out a slight chuckle as Gray frantically searched for his missing clothes, with Lucy and Erza watching in amusement. Another frown formed on his face as he thought to the previous topic. He _did_ do something wrong; he just went and started eating when the others were still suffering. He should’ve at least taken the others into consideration before stuffing his mouth with all the rocks he could find.

He felt he had to make it up to his friends. His mind made up, he said, “I’ll take the lead. It’d be better for me to do the fighting if we do get ambushed by something, so you guys won’t waste your energy.”

“Fair enough,” Erza nodded. Nobody else objected, and so he took Erza’s position at the head of the group and led them on. He sniffed around occasionally for any trace of an exit or food, or less preferably, anything that would want _them_ as lunch.

It took another ten minutes of walking, climbing and stomach grumblings before Makoto finally picked up on something that smelled different from the rocks. He paused and breathed in deeply through his nose. He was still a bit rusty on differentiating scents, but this one was pretty familiar. It smelled like… people.

Picking up the pace, they soon came up to a neatly paved road and pillars signifying an entrance. “It’s… a village,” he stated incredulously. “We found a village.”

Happy’s mouth stretched into a grin. “And that means there must be—!”

“FOOOOOOOOD!” Everyone burst through the entranceway, spurred on by Natsu’s excited cry and the thought of finally smothering their whining stomachs with sustenance. After a day without anything to eat, the food they craved was finally within their grasp!

Their excitement was brought to a halt when they stopped in what appeared to be the village square, indicated by a large mushroom-shaped statue made of stone brick. The air was still and heavy with silence. Nothing moved in the stone streets. The place was like an utter ghost town.

“There’s no one here,” Gray remarked with a surprised tone.

“It does seem awfully quiet, doesn’t it?” Lucy said as they continued at a slower, more wary pace. They kept an eye out for any signs of life as they continued deeper into the village.

“I definitely smelled people, though…” Makoto said. “I think their scent was pretty recent.”

“Maybe they’re taking an afternoon nap or something,” Natsu suggested.

“An afternoon nap sounds good…” Maya mumbled, snuggling up further in Makoto’s hair. Her idea was ruined when Natsu continued by shouting, “Hey! Anybody here?!”

“We’re starving like _crazy_ out here!” Happy added. “Somebody cook us some dinner!”

“Wow, Happy. Ever heard of the word ‘please’?” Lucy commented dryly. They stopped at another open area identical to the previous one.

“You really think the whole town is taking a nap?” Gray questioned after a moment of silence.

“Well,” Makarov joined in. “It’s either that or they all got drunk and passed out!”

Lucy sweatdropped. “I think that only happens back at the guild.”

The old master let out a chuckle. “We do love our spirits, don’t we?”

Suddenly, before Makoto could even blink, Natsu sped off like a bullet, shouting, “You guys can hang out here all day if you want, but I’m gonna find a kitchen to raid!”

“Shame on you for even _thinking_ about robbing this place, Natsu!” Gray yelled. His scolding had less impact with the fact that he was just one step behind the pink-haired boy.

“You’re just mad I thought of it first!”

Natsu came to a halt in front of one of the houses, pounding on the wooden door desperately. “Hey! Anyone home?!” After no response, he let out a groan and banged on it again. “Come on, give us something to eat! We’re dying—!”

He stopped suddenly when the door gave beneath his fists, swinging open with a creak. Gray peeked in over his shoulder. The first room they entered was dark and sparse of furniture, besides a wooden table with two chairs in the center and a cupboard pushed up against the back wall. “Looks like nobody’s here.”

“Who cares,” Natsu said dismissively, cheerfully approaching the table in the middle of the room that was decorated with plates and cups. “There’s food!” He picked up one of the loaves of bread and gave it a quick sniff. He grinned. “Good! It still smells fresh. Open wide!”

“Not so fast.”

“Argh, what is it now?!” He was just about to finally fill his belly when Erza had to go and interrupt.

“Something’s strange here,” she pointed out.

“She’s right,” Gray agreed as the rest finally entered the house. “Who would leave a table full of food just sitting there like that? And if somebody cooked this…”

“Then where are they now?” Makoto finished. “What happened to them?”

“How should I know?” Natsu asked in a flat tone that screamed ‘I couldn’t care less.’ “Anyway, ready to dig in, Happy?”

“Aye…!” the cat replied in an eager tone.

“Natsu!”

Natsu let out a yelp of fear at Erza’s demanding voice and steely glare. “Yes ma’am!”

“We need to investigate the village first,” she declared. “We’ve held out this long, we can hold on a little—”

_Groooowl…_

“I think your stomach might have different plans,” Lucy chuckled.

Makarov hummed in agreement. “Yes, but which one do we listen to?”

“Search the area for mushrooms or anything that looks edible!” Erza said. Her voice was louder as if to purposefully mask the grumblings of her stomach. “And don’t eat the food in the village, okay? While you’re all doing that, Master and I will try to figure out what’s going on.”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya…” Natsu sighed dejectedly. “Let’s go, Happy.”

“Aye…” the cat mumbled.

“Maya and I will go searching around the outskirts,” Makoto suggested as the three wizards and cat filed out of the house. “You know, see if there are any clues out there, or whether the villagers are hiding out nearby.”

“Very well,” the redhead nodded. “We’ll meet you back here in a while.”

“Gotcha.” He gave a farewell wave to Erza and Makarov before exiting the house himself, heading in the opposite direction to Natsu, Gray, and Lucy.

* * *

 

“Did ya find anything yet?” Maya asked curiously, looking down at Makoto’s face. It was slightly scrunched up in concentration, his nose twitching as he breathed in deeply.

After a moment, he deflated and let out a heavy sigh. “Not really,” he reported in a disappointed tone. Almost immediately, he clenched his fists. “But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing. Let’s keep looking.”

“Yup yup!” Maya cheered as Makoto started moving again. The area around the outside of the village was essentially the same as the rest of the canyon: rocks, earth, dust and more rocks. Although, there were some patches of grass and bushes that started springing up as they walked further around the perimeter. There was a forest in the distance, so that was probably the reason for quite a bit of greenery in the area. It made sense for the village to be next to something like that—it’d be a bit strange to make a village somewhere where there wasn’t any food or water.

Ten minutes later and they made no progress. Makoto sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “I just can’t make any sense of it.”

“You mean the disappearance of the villagers?” Maya clarified.

“The food in the village is still fresh, so they had to be here until recently…” he said. “I’m not as good with smells as Natsu is, but I’m pretty sure the scent in the village is recent too… And I can’t smell anything in the outskirts at all. It’s like they just… I don’t know, vanished completely.”

Granted, he hadn’t investigated around the village proper a whole lot, so he could be missing some important clue to pull it all together. Until he found it though, the whole situation felt like an incomprehensible mess. It seemed impossible.

Until, he remembered, that this world had a few additional rules.

“What do you think? Is there some kind of magic spell that could do something like this?” Even if it was just the two of them out here, he figured if there was anyone to ask, it was Maya. Despite what her personality would suggest, she was pretty knowledgeable when it came to magic and its spells. Probably something she picked up from moving around a lot during her life.

Maya hummed in thought. “Uhhh… Well, probably. I mean, there are more spells in magic than fish in the sea! But, uh… The ones that come to mind are illegal magic, yup yup.”

“Illegal, huh…? Maybe a rogue wizard or two came through here,” Makoto theorized. “Or maybe even a whole dark guild. Maybe some remnants of Eisenwald… Argh…”

He stopped himself and rubbed his neck. “They’re all baseless theories anyway… It’s not like I have any proof to back them up.”

“I think you’re on the right track with a magic spell though, yup yup.”

“It just doesn’t make sense without taking magic into consideration,” Makoto said. He looked around the area they found themselves in. They’d crossed the threshold of the forest a while ago, and now they were deep in a sea of trees. “Maybe we should head back now. We can’t really find anythi—”

_Rustle rustle…_

He froze. “Maya, you heard that too, right?”

“Yup yup.”

Makoto turned around slowly, trying to pinpoint the direction the sound had come from. “Hello? Is anyone out there?” Silence filled the woods after that, so he called again, “If you’re from the village, it’s okay to come out, I promise!”

A few tense moments passed. Then from behind, Makoto heard it again: the rustling of leaves. “Hello?” He took a couple of hesitant steps towards it.

The bush exploded into life, creating a cacophony of noises as something darted away faster than Makoto could see it. “H-Hey, wait!” he called, pushing through the shrubbery and chasing after them.

“Ack!” Maya yelped, clinging on tightly to a pawful of Makoto’s hair. “Slow down! Too fast! I wanna get off!”

He tuned her out, too focused on trying to catch up to the stranger. It was definitely a person; no forest animal could have the same kind of shape, right? He followed them through twists and turns in the undergrowth, not quite catching up but not losing sight of them either.

( _“Wait a minute,”_ ) he thought as he focused a little more on the silhouette in front of him. ( _“Is it just me or… do they look kinda fami—?”_ )

A sharp pain in his foot interrupted his train of thought, which was then immediately followed by him crashing to the ground. He grunted from the abruptness and the pain, pushing himself up to his hands and knees as soon as he recovered slightly.

The person he was tailing was long gone, no evidence of them ever even being there. Maya was flat on her face a few feet in front of him. Apparently she went flying when he tripped over the tree root protruding from the ground.

“You okay?” he called to her.

His only response was a slightly muffled, “Unngerhghmph…”

( _“She’s probably okay,”_ ) he smiled to himself. He moved his legs around in order to sit on the grassy floor, sighing in disappointment. ( _“And great. I let them get away. Not even any scent to follow.”_ ) That last thought made him perk in realization. “Maybe that has something to do with it.”

“What are you blabbering about now?” Maya asked tiredly as she trudged over, rubbing at her bow to clean it of dirt streaks.

“Thinking aloud again,” he responded. “That person we were chasing after hasn’t left any scent, so I thought maybe there was a spell or something similar that the villagers used, too.”

Maya frowned and tilted her head. “We were chasing someone?”

“Yeah…” Makoto frowned in response. He didn’t think his cat was _that_ oblivious. “Didn’t you see them?”

“Well, I heard the noise, and then you just took off running all of a—Ooooh, pretty!” She got distracted halfway through her sentence and plucked something off of the ground in front of her.

Makoto inspected the item in her paws. “A… rock? No, wait… a scale…?” He was surprised she’d even managed to spot it. The forest green scale blended in very well with the grass surroundings, even with the tiny splotches of teal.

Maya turned it over in her paws a couple of times, and then held it above her head to look at. “Well, that’s weird, yup yup.”

“What is?”

“It’s practically screaming, ‘Hey, look at me! I’ve got buckets of magical power!’” She lowered her arms after waving them around dramatically. “But it’s not doing anything.”

Makoto reached over to take it from her. “I don’t know much about magic, but maybe it just—WAAAH!”

Both of them flinched from the sudden scream and Makoto dropped the scale. “Now you’re _literally_ screaming!” Maya shouted. “What happened?!”

Makoto didn’t reply immediately—instead, he crawled over to where the scale lay on the ground. Holding out a finger, he pressed it against the smooth surface of the scale. Once again, he felt it—his magic reacting strongly to it.

“You said it didn’t do anything when you held it, right?” Makoto asked.

“Come on, silly, keep up,” she replied. “I said that five seconds ago.” She stared at him for a long while before a look of realization crossed her face. _“Ohhh._ So what did it do?”

“My magic reacts when I hold it,” he said, picking it up from the ground. “It’s a little difficult to explain, but it kind of feels like… I don’t know, like there’s more magic…?”

Her ears perked in understanding. “You mean like it’s a booster or something?”

“I guess so,” he nodded.

Maya placed a paw on her cheek, her tail flicking back and forth thoughtfully. “I think I’ve heard of magic boosting items before… But I think they’re kinda hard to come by, yup yup. And made by people too, so if it’s a magic-boosting scale—” She froze suddenly. “Wait, so it’s a scale, and it boosts your magic?”

“Um… Yes?” Makoto answered somewhat hesitantly.

Her face exploded into glee and she started squealing and jumping around. “Ahh! Ahh! I know what it is! I bet it’s a _dragon scale!”_

“A drag—Hang on, I thought dragons were supposed to be extinct or something,” Makoto recalled. “I mean, sure it looks like a scale from a reptile, but how did it even get here?”

“Who knows, who cares!” an ecstatic Maya cheered. “But you should hang onto it, yup yup! It boosts your magic, right? And you’re always complaining about being tired after a fight and stuff!”

Makoto opened his mouth to argue—and then realized she had a point. He wanted to be of help to his friends and teammates, but they had years of magical experience. Even Lucy had been practicing magic longer than he had. It felt a bit like cheating, but with it, he could catch up to their level and be a lot more useful.

And as much as he wanted an answer to its origins, there were more important matters to attend to.

Both of them were suddenly interrupted in their discussions by a loud, ominous rumbling sound that echoed throughout the forest. Makoto jumped to his feet, shoved the scale into his trouser pocket, and searched the area. It was less like rumbling and more like… growling.

Maya shot up through the canopy like a rocket, only to come back down a moment later—almost crashing into the ground. “I think it’s coming from the village!” she reported frantically.

Makoto’s eyes widened. “Erza and the master are there! Let’s hurry, Maya!”

“Yup yup!”

Thankfully, once they reached the village it was easy to find everyone else. Makoto and Maya ran up to Erza and Makarov, who were just being joined by Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy.

“What’s going on?” Makoto asked as soon as he reached them. “The whole place is glowing red!”

“What’s with the mushroom on your head?” Maya asked Happy, who indeed had a yellow mushroom growing from the space between his ears.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

The ground suddenly began flashing an angry red color, and the buildings followed suit. Not only that, they also started wobbling and distorting, almost like looking at an object shimmering in the heat.

“What’s with this place…?” Natsu muttered, put off by the strange scene occurring around them.

“Why is everything moving?!” Lucy questioned worriedly.

“It looks like the houses are having a dance party!” Happy cheered.

Lucy stared at him. “What is it with you cats and missing the point?”

Makoto nearly stumbled as the ground heaved as well, portions of it growing lumps that seemed to swim along its surface. He picked up Maya from the ground and held her close. Gray placed his hands in front of him, the air around him already growing colder. “It’s time to rumble, Gramps.”

“No, wait!”

Everyone stopped short at Makarov’s protest. “What? Why?” Gray questioned.

“We need to get to higher ground!” he commanded. “There’s something I have to check.”

Erza nodded in understanding and turned to the other wizards. “All right, guys. Let’s go! Try to stay close!”

“Right!”

They headed for one of the towering cliffs that surrounded the village. The Fairy Tail wizards reached the top of it just in time to see a bizarre sight: the buildings and structures in the village all glowed a bright red and changed into gray serpent-like monsters, one by one.

“Oh man,” Natsu said. “Looks like we got out just in time.”

“Now I see…” Erza said. “It was a magic circle!”

Everyone but Makarov turned to her in confusion. “What do you mean?” Makoto questioned.

“There were lines carved into the pavements of the village,” Makarov explained. “They formed a massive magic circle used for a type of magic that was banned many years ago. A form of Sealing Magic that is known as ‘Alive’.”

“Alive…” Makoto echoed quietly and then looked at the out-of-control monsters below them. “And it transformed the buildings into these things?”

“That’s exactly right.” Makarov looked down, a grave expression on his face. “It appears the villagers cast the forbidden spell, only to end up being eaten by the very monsters they brought to life.”

“How horrible…” Makoto jerked as he realized something else. “Wait, how could a bunch of people in a village at the bottom of a canyon even pull off a magic spell like that?”

Erza was the one who answered him. “This village… was home to a dark guild!”

“No way…” Natsu muttered.

“No, that makes sense,” Makoto argued. “Using forbidden magic… From what I’ve heard, that seems right up a dark guild’s alley.”

“While investigating, I came across a collection of magic tools tucked away in a shed,” Erza continued. “Upon closer inspection, I realized they were tools used to practice black magic.”

“Knowing how reckless dark guilds can be, they probably thought up some crazy plan and wound up getting burned in the process!” Makarov guessed.

( _“And you know if it’s the guild master of_ Fairy Tail _of all guilds calling you reckless…”_ ) Makoto thought to himself. ( _“You’ve_ really _messed up.”_ )

“But!” Makarov continued suddenly. “There’s one thing we should be grateful for!”

“Oh yeah?” Natsu asked skeptically. “And what would that be?”

Makarov pointed to the monsters. “The dark guild’s mischief brought these creatures to life. And most living creatures can be turned into… FOOD!”

“Foo—Wha—You’re serious?!” Makoto exclaimed as Lucy shouted in surprise next to him. He then saw Natsu and Gray with matching eager smirks on their faces. “You guys too?!”

“That smirk makes your nakedness creepier, Gray!” Lucy yelled at him. He looked at her, confused and apparently completely unaware that his shirt was once again missing.

“Now, time to chow!” Natsu shouted.

“Yeah!” Happy cheered. “I’m right behind you, Natsu!”

“At this point, I don’t even _care_ what they taste like!” Gray added eagerly.

Without saying a word, Erza leaped off of the cliff, descending towards the monsters at full speed.

“Even _Erza_ is gonna eat those things?!” Lucy exclaimed in surprise. Makoto gave a sigh. “I guess you don’t underestimate a hungry wizard.”

“Time to get my grub on!” Natsu shouted as the three followed after Erza’s example.

“Wait, you’re crazy!”

“Save some for me, you two!” Makarov called after them, completely unconcerned.

“Nope,” Makoto sighed, plopping down just on the edge of the cliff. “I don’t think they’re edible at all. If they want to try and eat it, be my guest.”

* * *

 

_“Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”_

_“Ice Make: Knuckle!”_

“Rraaargh!”

“Well, they’re making quick work of the monsters,” Makoto commented as he watched with Makarov and Maya from the cliff top. Only a few minutes had gone by and each wizard had gone through at least a dozen monsters. And, of course, they all had their own cooking style: Natsu was roasting them, Gray was making desserts, and Erza was slicing and dicing.

“Maybe we should get them to cook us some proper food when we get back to the guild!” Maya suggested happily.

He smiled nervously. “Maybe not.”

Makoto continued to watch the hungry group of wizards tear through the monsters, with Lucy standing on the sidelines near Erza—and was that Happy riding a chair…?—when he suddenly got the feeling he was being watched himself. He glanced over and met Makarov’s curious gaze.

“Is something wrong?” Makoto asked when the old man didn’t say anything immediately.

Makarov replied, “Ever since you returned from the village outskirts, you’ve been giving off a lot more magic power than you used to. Why is that?”

“Oh, uh…” Makoto paused to dig through his trouser pockets until he located the scale from earlier. He held it out for Makarov to take a closer look. “It’s probably this. Maya found it in the forest.”

“It’s a dragon scale!” the tabby chirped excitedly.

“She thinks so,” Makoto quickly added on before Makarov got the wrong idea. “I’m not so sure but it’s definitely a scale of some kind, and it seems to boost my magic. It doesn’t do anything to Maya’s, though.”

Makarov picked up the scale using his thumb and finger and brought it up close to his face. “That’s definitely a lot of magic for such a small object. You should probably keep hold of it, Makoto,” he said as he dropped it back in his hand. “Since it doesn’t do anything to my magic, it’s not a stretch to assume it only works on you. Or, at the very least, only for Dragon Slayers.”

“Yeah,” Makoto nodded as he placed it back in his pocket. “Maybe I’ll get Natsu to try it later.”

“Come to think of it, I don’t know much about your magic,” Makarov admitted. “I’m guessing that you learned your magic from a dragon, similar to Natsu.”

“Well, y-yes…” Makoto bit the inside of his cheek. The last thing he wanted to do was lie to Makarov, but it was the only thing he could do. “But it’s not really something I like to talk about.”

“Of course. I understand,” the old man said, letting go of the matter. After a moment’s silence, he spoke up again, “But if you do decide you want someone to talk to about it, or about anything else, my door is always open.”

“Thanks,” Makoto smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

_“GROSS!”_

Makoto looked up in surprise to see the others right behind them. “What the heck were you thinking, Gramps?!” Natsu complained. “There’s no way we can eat this nasty stuff!”

“You trying to kill us, you old geezer?!” Gray yelled.

Maya blinked. “Is it that icky?”

“I would hardly call it edible,” Erza answered.

“If you knew it was hardly edible, why’d you force me to eat it?!” Lucy shouted at her. Makoto looked over to her and realized she still had a piece of Erza’s finely sliced monster chips in her hand. A lightbulb suddenly lit up in his head.

“Hang on, let me try.” Everyone stared at him in surprise but Lucy dropped the piece into his palm without complaint. He took a bite out of it, chewed on it for a bit and then—to the continuing surprise of the others—tossed the rest of it into his mouth. “No wonder you guys can’t eat this stuff.”

“How’d you—What do you mean?!” Natsu demanded.

“Because I _can_ eat it.” At his friends confused looks, Makoto swallowed and continued, “Remember exactly what these monsters came from?”

“That Alive spell, right?” Gray answered. “It makes living creatures—”

“—by transforming them from inanimate objects,” he finished. “They’re made of concrete.”

Natsu gaped at him. “That’s so not fair! Why are you the only one who can eat anything in this stinking place?!”

He was denied any sort of replied when they heard a scream being cut off by a crash from somewhere behind them. They all turned and saw Happy in front of a large boulder, the chair and his mushroom lying on the ground around him.

“Your mushroom finally fell off,” Gray pointed out to him.

“I don’t care about the stupid mushroom!” Happy yelled at him. “I wanna know why you guys didn’t help me! How could you be so mean—I thought we were friends!”

Natsu bent over slightly, confused. “We are!”

“You _were_ just goofing off, right?” Gray added. Happy froze solid after that, looking completely shocked. Makoto hid a smile at their obliviousness, but went still when he realized what was behind the cat.

“Happy, look out!” Before anyone else could react, Makoto was already up on his feet, placing himself between Happy and the monster. He pulled his arm back and focused—and was taken aback by how quickly he generated the magic needed for his attack. _“Earth Dragon’s Seismic Fist!”_

Once making sure Happy was safe, Makoto returned to the loosely formed circle the others had formed when they realized they were surrounded. ( _“That scale… It really packs a punch.”_ )

“Man, these things are nasty,” Gray complained.

“In more ways than one,” Erza distastefully added.

Natsu pounded his fists together eagerly. Not even hunger could stop him from a serious fight. “I’m gonna blow you to pieces! _Fire Dragon’s Wing Attack!”_

 _“Ice Make: Wall!”_ Gray called as he slammed his hands into the ground. Ice spread quickly from him to cover the monsters he faced.

Erza requipped into her Heaven’s Wheel armor, flying at the monsters with her swords and slashing them as she passed by.

Makoto breathed in deeply, feeling his magic swell. _“Earth Dragon’s Roar!”_ The attack completely decimated the monsters in front of him. He cut off his attack, pleased to find that he didn’t even feel tired and was still raring to go.

“I want to help!” Lucy said as she pulled out one of her golden gate keys, waving it through the air and activating her Celestial Spirit Magic. _“Open, Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!”_

“You’re looking smooth as usual, Miss Lucy!”

“Less passion, more bashin’!” she said to the pervy cow spirit. He was more than happy to comply, swinging his ax into the ground. The resulting earthquake destroyed a fair amount of monsters. The Fairy Tail wizards continued their onslaught, slaying more monsters than they had when they were trying to make food.

No matter how many they destroyed though, it made no difference when there seemed to be an endless supply.

“They keep coming back! Like starfish limbs!” Maya whined. The group gasped when the ground suddenly began shaking beneath them.

“Great, what’s happening now?!” Lucy shouted. Their attention was redirected back to the ground, where the magic circle was glowing brighter than ever before.

“Oh wow, it’s so pretty!”

“You’re missing the point again!” she yelled at Happy, who seemed oblivious to the danger. “What’s going on in that mixed-up little head of yours?!”

( _“This is bad…”_ ) Makoto clenched his fists as they watched the monsters sink back into the ground. The magic circle steadily grew brighter and brighter. ( _“What’s going to happen…?”_ )

He unfortunately got his answer when the ground started breaking beneath his feet. He just heard Erza shout, “Run for it!” the exact moment that the rock gave way. And then they were falling.

* * *

 

Makoto’s mouth curved into a grin as Natsu, Gray and Happy once again got into an argument about how hungry they were. Well, he’d admit that Happy was a new addition to the commonplace fights. Normally it was just the Fire and Ice Wizards.

“Makotooo…”

He reached a hand up to his head and patted Maya. “What’s up?”

She spread herself further out on his head. “I don’t get it. What happened?”

“You mean with those monsters?” Makoto glanced behind him. Erza and Makarov were engaged in a quiet discussion themselves—and if he trusted those dragon ears of his, it sounded like it was about the same topic. “Well, I think Master Makarov did something that destroyed the magic circle and freed the villagers trapped within.”

“But _how?”_ she stressed.

“Why do you want to know so bad?”

“Magic is my thing, Makoto. Besides fish, obviously,” Maya replied matter-of-factly. “I just wanna know as much as I can about it.”

It was hard for him to understand it himself, honestly. He remembered plummeting towards the magic circle. Then—he felt pretty sure, but he couldn’t be certain—Makarov used some sort of magic. When Makoto regained consciousness, the village itself was in ruins but the Fairy Tail wizards were all unharmed. Not only that, but the villagers were also with them.

It turned out that, by casting the banned spell, the villagers had all become possessed and trapped by the monsters—‘taken over’ was the term that the wizards used. Makoto remembered it from their trip up Mount Hakobe. Makarov made sure that the villages wouldn’t try something as stupid as using another forbidden magic, and in return he wouldn’t report them to the Magic Council.

“I honestly don’t know how he did it, Maya,” Makoto admitted. “We should be thankful though that we’re all okay.”

“Pooey,” Maya deflated. “I wanna know.”

“Well, that may be a mystery…” Makoto grinned to himself. “But there’s one thing that’s definitely for certain.”

And, as if on cue…

_Groooowl…_

“We’re still _hungryyy!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I decided to get this chapter posted now 'cause my next week is literally full of exams. Full of 'em. Each day has an exam. (im crying but im sure some of you probs have to go through the same pain)
> 
> Chapter 10 is done but it needs to be checked over by my friend and since she's got exams as well I honestly dunno when that's gonna be out. I've got a page on my tumblr where I'll try to keep updates on each of the chapters, so you can check that out to see progress.
> 
> Translation: it might be a while till you get an update.
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	10. Natsu vs Makoto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The showdown between Fairy Tail's two Dragon Slayers arrives.

It had been three weeks since Makoto mysteriously arrived in Fiore. That amount of time probably wasn’t that long, but it felt odd when he really thought about it. A few weeks was approximately the time he’d spent locked up in Hope’s Peak, forced to watch his friends turn against each other in their ‘school life’. Yet, in the same amount of time, he had forged many bonds with the wizards of Fairy Tail—especially with the ‘strongest team’, as a lot of the guild wizards referred to them as.

There was never a dull moment in the guild. Every day brought a new adventure, although none as big as the Eisenwald mission from a while ago. Most of the time, he went on a small job with Lucy, Natsu, and the cats every other day, leaving the day in between to relax and spend time at the guild hall.

The jobs managed to earn him quite a bit of money—even with Natsu destroying houses everywhere he went. He kept some for himself, obviously, but the rest of it went towards groceries and other essentials, only occasionally paying some rent. Makoto wanted to put more of his money towards the apartment, but Lucy always insisted that she could handle it and not to worry about it too much. He felt bad, but with the blonde steadfast in her decision—despite her common complaints of not having enough money—there wasn’t much he could do.

That particular morning they spent relaxing in their apartment. They’d all overslept a bit, so they decided to take the morning off and swing by the guild after lunch to see what kind of job requests they could accept. That way, Makoto and Natsu could eat something instead of being forced to watch the others eat on the train.

After losing his shirt in the Eisenwald incident, Makoto realized that he didn’t have much in the way of other outfits. With the personal money he had left over, he splurged a bit to get himself a new wardrobe more suited for the active life of a guild wizard—although it was small and he was pretty much broke afterward. He picked up a couple of t-shirts, shorts, and trousers, but the more permanent addition to his attire was the short-sleeved dark green hoodie.

He got a new hoodie because he wanted his green Fairy Tail mark to be visible, but he still wanted something to wear over his shirt and Maya insisted—or more like _demanded_ —to have a hood to rest in. Thus, the short sleeve hoodie. He was pretty surprised that there was a hoodie pretty similar to his old one, minus the red along the zip and on the back of the hood.

Speaking of his old clothes, he kept those tucked away in the drawer he had for himself, along with whatever he’d been carrying when he arrived here. His old trainers were fine as they were, so he kept those and bought a couple of new pairs just in case.

Lucy was writing away on a sheet of paper at the desk—what, specifically, Makoto didn’t know. He’d inquired but she’d avoided the question, and he liked his bed too much to try incurring her wrath. All he knew was that it wasn’t her novel, since that was always tucked away in a locked drawer.

Makoto, on the other hand, was lying on his mattress and entertaining himself by playing with Maya. At the moment, he was tossing her into the air and catching her when she fell back down. Makoto gave a smile as she cheered for the fourteenth time. Maybe he was spoiling her a bit, but hey, she was adorable. It was hard to say no to that face.

He swapped to holding her up in the air with his sock-covered feet, bouncing his legs up and down gently, causing Maya to giggle with delight. He didn’t change his game primarily because it would entertain her, though. It was _one_ of the reasons, but this way, it also allowed him to give a few things a little more thought.

Like his newly acquired dragon scale, hidden beneath his hoodie and dangling on a string as a necklace.

Whether it actually _was_ a dragon scale was still debatable, but he just got used to calling it that. Besides, it didn’t seem like it worked on Natsu, considering the one time he picked it up when it fell out of Makoto’s pocket, he didn’t mention anything weird. And Natsu was the type of guy to just blurt out whatever came to mind, so he was almost certain Natsu hadn’t been affected.

That would mean it only worked on himself, which opened up a whole range of questions. ( _“Why_ does _it only work on me? Is it possible that it would work on other Dragon Slayers if we could find any?”_ ) Makoto held back a sigh as he bounced Maya a little higher so she just barely lifted off of his feet. ( _“And where did it come from? Why did I find it near that village? How does it work?”_ )

“Hey, whatcha thinking about?”

Makoto blinked. He must’ve stopped playing with Maya, which caused her to look over and see the frown forming on his face. He gave her a smile and replied quietly, “Nothing important.” He bent his knees to bring her closer and scratched her ear. She purred in response and he returned to his previous actions.

Half the reason he’d spoken quietly was because he didn’t want to disturb Lucy, but the other half was due to the unannounced visitor the apartment’s residents had received. The visitor seemed quite happy with relaxing in one of the chairs after quietly sneaking in and Makoto and Maya were preoccupied with amusing each other, so really the only person who didn’t know about their guest was Lucy. Only when she stood up and turned around did his presence become acknowledged.

“Gray, what are you doing here?!” she demanded. “No stripping in my house, buddy!”

“Whoa, wait! Give me a minute to explain!” She paused just before she was about to kick him. He turned around and placed his hands on his hips. “I was naked when I got here.”

“Get out,” she commanded flatly.

“Chill. I’m just here for Makoto, considering he seems to have forgotten,” Gray explained, getting up and facing the brown-haired boy.

“I haven’t forgotten,” Makoto objected, still in the middle of bouncing Maya up and down. “Why do you think I’m still in bed?” Dressed for the day, sure, but he wasn’t about to leave his comfy mattress.

“Wait a minute, what’s going on?” Lucy inquired after calming down a little.

Gray crossed his arms over his bare chest and looked towards her. “Remember before we left on the whole Lullaby ordeal, Natsu challenged Makoto to a fight? Well, today’s that day.”

“They’re seriously going to go through with it?!” she yelled incredulously.

“Well, are you?” Gray turned to Makoto. The Dragon Slayer finally stopped playing with his cat at the direct question. “Pyro’s getting antsy waiting for you, and the bets are already piling up.”

“They’re _betting_ on who’s gonna win?!” Lucy yelled.

Makoto sighed. “I know I’m supposed to be the optimist here, but even if I _did_ go, Natsu would probably win.” Everyone turned and looked at him in surprise. He looked away. “Well, Natsu’s probably been doing this forever. Fighting people, I mean. And me, well…” He sat up and held Maya in his hands. “I’m just me.”

“So you’re just gonna give up?”

“I don’t _want_ to fight Natsu,” Makoto told Gray. “He’s my friend, and friends should be working together, not—” His words caught in his throat as memories of Hope’s Peak flashed through his mind. He gritted his teeth and finished, “Not fighting each other.”

Gray and Lucy shared a look that almost made Makoto think they would ask him about his stumble. He watched nervously as Gray opened his mouth, but he was unexpectedly saved when Maya beat them to it. “But you promised him! That’s quitter talk, Mackie!”

Makoto’s face burned red with embarrassment. “M-Mackie…?!” 

She wriggled out of his hands and stood opposite him on the mattress, paws placed firmly on her hips. She wasn’t done yet. “You said it yourself: Natsu fights everyone in the guild on a regular basis. But, I mean, look at him and Gray! They fight more often than a bunch of betta fish, but they’re still friends!”

“We’re _not_ friends,” the stripper in question argued.

“See?” Maya continued as if his response proved her point. “And I know you’re strong—stronger than you give yourself credit for. You helped pound the bad sickle man and the creepy flute monster straight into the ground!”

“I purposely got hit with an incredibly strong spell and got knocked out of the fight,” Makoto flatly reminded her. “And I didn’t do that much against Lullaby.”

“But without you, Natsu could’ve not won either fight!”

“You can’t say that with certainty.”

“And by that same logic, neither can you!” she fired back triumphantly.

( _“How am I losing an argument with a cat?!”_ )

Maybe it was because he wasn’t actually arguing as seriously as he could. A part of Makoto honestly didn’t mind either way; it wasn’t like he had anything he wanted to prove. But, still…

“There’s going to be lots of spectators from Fairy Tail, right?” he asked, already knowing the answer anyway. “Knowing the guild, it’s going to get brought up constantly, and I’d rather not have anyone watch me get beaten.”

“W-Well…” Maya deflated at that and glanced unsurely to Gray and Lucy. She recovered quickly and said, “But what if you win? And what does it matter who wins or who loses? Just think of it as a… as a…” She paused again. “What is it when you do a friendly match and it doesn’t matter the victor and it’s more about training and having fun and—?”

“You mean sparring?” Lucy supplied helpfully.

“Yeah!” Maya beamed. “Just think of it for fun! And practice!”

Makoto bit his lip and thought about it. “I… guess…”

The cat thumped her paw against her chest. “Yeah, come on! Besides, you’re a Fairy Tail wizard now, and Fairy Tail wizards don’t give in and don’t give up!”

Gray grinned. “If you left now, you could probably still be considered fashionably late.”

“I…” No, he just needed to stop thinking of it as a fight. It wasn’t a fight against his friend; it was just a friendly sparring match. If anything, Natsu would like him _less_ if he didn’t show up at all. Not to mention all the Fairy Tail spectators, who were apparently so excited about it that they were placing bets.

Makoto gave a firm nod. “All right. I’ll do it.” His smile changed into a more sheepish one as he added, “Let’s go, before I lose my nerve…”

Considering the distance between the apartment and Fairy Tail, it didn’t take them long at all to arrive at the guild hall. Even if the event wasn’t taking place right in front of the building, it’d still be incredibly easy to find with the massive crowd gathered there.

Makoto’s eyes widened at the turnout. “That’s… a lot of people.”

Maya smacked him on the shoulder, flying beside him as they walked. “Don’t tell me you’re getting cold paws! Or is it feet…?”

He didn’t even get the chance to run if he wanted to. As soon as someone caught sight of him, the news spread like wildfire and the crowd cheered ecstatically. He didn’t see who it was but one of his teammates behind him gave him a shove which left Makoto within arm’s reach of the crowd. He had enough time to shoot a betrayed look at a grinning Gray before he was pulled through the masses. He discovered that the group wasn’t just an unorganized lump of people—there was an empty circle in the middle, large enough to obviously be the battleground.

Natsu was waiting for him on the other side.

Makoto gulped.

“I still can’t believe they’re really doing this,” Lucy sighed. “How’s it going to turn out?”

“Oh, hey Lucy!” Mira greeted as the blonde walked to the front of the audience with Gray and Maya. “Came to watch the show?”

“Well, Makoto lives at my place, so I was kinda dragged along,” she admitted.

“It’s hard to say what’s going to happen,” Elfman responded as an answer to her question. “Natsu’s a man when it comes to fighting, but we know next to nothing about Makoto.”

“Hey, Makoto’s a great fighter!” Maya protested. “I’m sure he’ll come out on top, yup yup!”

Elfman smiled at the tabby. “All I know is that it’ll be interesting seeing two Dragon Slayers go head to head!”

“They are both on the strongest team in Fairy Tail…” Lucy muttered to herself.

“Strongest team? What are you talking about?” Gray questioned, overhearing her comment.

“You, Natsu, Erza, and Makoto, dummy!” she said. “You guys are the strongest in the guild; you guys took down Lullaby!”

“We are?” Gray scoffed. “Yeah, right. What idiot fed you that line?” Mira smiled warmly for a while, before she eventually broke down into tears. Gray flinched as he made the connection. “Oh, y-you’re not an idiot, Mira!”

“Smooth move, Gray,” Lucy and Maya said together.

“I’ll hand it to Natsu and Gray; they’re tough little dudes,” Elfman said. “And I can’t speak for Makoto, obviously, but there are stronger guys in Fairy Tail than the two of them combined. Like this guy!” He pointed to himself.

“I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say that Erza’s the strongest woman,” Levy, another wizard at Fairy Tail, joined in. She was a short girl with an orange hairband sitting in her blue hair.

“But if you’re talking about the strongest man, there’s Laxus and Mystogan,” Jet, Levy’s teammate, added. He had spiky orange hair that was hidden by his tall furry hat. “As well as that geezer.”

Speaking of the scarlet swordswoman, she seemed to appear from nowhere and stood right next to them. She looked into the center of the circle and asked, “So Makoto has arrived… Looks like this match can get underway.”

Lucy blinked in surprise. “You’re here too, Erza?”

She nodded, a smile forming on her face. “Of course. I’ve seen how Makoto fights before, but this will give me the opportunity to watch without being in the middle of something myself. Besides, I’m eager to see how Natsu’s improved since the last time we fought.”

On the inside of their makeshift arena, Natsu smirked as he adjusted his scarf. “Finally decided to show up, did ya? You kept me waiting forever!”

“Sorry about that…” Makoto chuckled. “I’ll be honest: fighting isn’t something I get excited about. But I made a promise on this, so there’s no way I’m just going to leave you hanging. I’m gonna give it my all!”

Natsu’s toothy grin widened. “That’s just the answer I was hoping to hear!”

Back on the sidelines, Happy shifted his gaze between the two fighters for a long while. Abruptly he turned to Cana, who was sitting next to a giant tally board with Natsu and Makoto’s names on it. Happy handed her the wad of cash in his paw. “I’m putting my money on Makoto.”

“Ooh, ooh, me too!” Maya chirped, waving a few notes in her paw. Cana took the money off of them and happily shoved it into a full bucket of jewel.

“You’re betting against your best friend?!” Lucy yelled at Happy incredulously.

Makarov approached the two wizards with his staff in hand. The audience fell silent and the Dragon Slayers grew tense. The moment had arrived. Makarov raised his free hand and shouted, “Round one! Start!” before getting the heck out of there.

Natsu moved as soon as the metaphorical bell rung. _“Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”_ Makoto’s eyes widened at the speed that Natsu came towards him with. He had to stumble back to dodge the punch, almost tripping over his feet as he scrambled away from the following punches. ( _“Crap! He’s fast!”_ )

“Where’re ya running off to, Makoto?!” Natsu taunted. “I’m right here!” He swung with his punch again and, thinking on his feet, Makoto turned and yelled, _“Earth Dragon’s Seismic Fist!”_ His stone-clad hand crashed into Natsu’s own fiery fist. Both Dragon Slayers pushed, but neither was making much headway.

“You’re strong,” Natsu praised. “Not bad.”

“I’m not going to run,” Makoto replied. Reading each other’s movements, they both broke off the attack at the same time and jumped backward a few feet. Natsu began taking in a deep breath, something that Makoto instantly recognized. In a split second decision, Makoto mirrored his action, building up his magic to its peak. After all, what better way to fight roar than with roar?

_“Fire Dragon’s…”_

_“Earth Dragon’s…”_

It took the audience a little longer to realize what was happening, but they did eventually catch on. They did what they could to take cover—however, since they were Fairy Tail wizards through and through, there was no way they’d go run and hide while there was action going on.

 _“ROAR!”_ The fire and earth breath attacks collided, causing a small-scale explosion and giving off a ton of smoke. Makoto reflexively coughed but he tried to keep his ears opening for any hints of movement. All he heard was coughing from the surrounding people—and from directly in front of him.

( _“Looks like Natsu was caught off guard by the smoke, too.”_ ) Makoto thought as a strong wind suddenly started up, clearing away the smoke. Realizing an opportunity was passing by him, Makoto ran straight at Natsu and raised his fists above his head. _“Earth Dragon’s Impact!”_

Natsu quickly retaliated with a flaming fist, blocking the attack and then following up with a kick wreathed in fire. Makoto scrambled backward a few feet and then paused for breath.

“Hey, try not to burn my hoodie,” he complained. “It’s new and I like it.”

“Don’t make it easy for me to hit you, then!” Natsu good-naturedly fired back with a grin. Makoto couldn’t help but smile himself.

( _“This kind of fighting… honestly isn’t that bad,”_ ) he realized. ( _“It’s not that us fighting means we’re not friends… It’s the exact opposite. We’re friends_ because _we fight. It’s a way of life in this world. By fighting, you can learn about your opponent—how they think, how they act. And through that, you can understand your friends and trust them to have your back, because they understand you on the same level.”_ )

Fire encircled Natsu’s right fist. “What do ya say, Makoto?” he asked with a smirk.

Makoto offered a grin of his own as his fist became surrounded by stone and light. “I couldn’t agree more.”

_“Fire Dragon’s…”_

_“Earth Dragon’s…”_

They charged head on for each other, fists pulled back to punch with all their might.

_“Iron Fist!”_

_“Seismic Fist!”_

“This fight is over!”

Makoto let out a gasp of surprise as a loud clap echoed around the area. Instinctively, he tried to stop his arm before it could touch Natsu’s own frozen fist. His momentum still carried him forward, unfortunately, and he fell with all his might. And hit his back with all his might.

He quickly recovered and clambered back to his feet. He shared a brief look of confusion with Natsu before looking over with everyone else in the audience to see who had interrupted the fight at its climax.

It was a green frog on two legs wearing an official-looking robe.

( _“Wait, what? How—”_ ) Makoto stopped and sighed inwardly. ( _“Well, along with all the other weird things in Fiore, I suppose I’ve seen a man who looked like a chicken; this should be the last thing that surprises me.”_ )

“May I have your attention please?” the frog continued in a high pitched voice. Makoto figured that it was a female frog, based on that. Was she still a person if she looked like a frog? ( _“Focus!”_ ) he shouted at himself. He needed to listen to what she was saying. No doubt it could be something important. “I have come here on behalf of the Magic Council.”

The news spawned several discussions around the crowd, mostly about why the council would send a representative all the way to Fairy Tail. Makoto drowned those out as the frog lady pulled a roll of parchment from her satchel. She announced, “As a result of the Eisenwald incident, two members of your guild have been charged with a total of eleven counts of criminal property damage!”

“Erza Scarlet and Fairy Tail’s Dragon Slayer are both under arrest,” she finished, letting the declaration sink in. Makoto’s eyes widened and his gaze shot towards Erza, who had come forward to stand in front of the frog messenger.

“Huh?! You’re putting her under ar—what?!” Natsu shouted.

“You’re arresting _Erza?!”_ Makoto added disbelievingly.

“Hang on!” Lucy interrupted. “Who else is under arrest? Fairy Tail has _two_ Dragon Slayers.”

“It’s not Natsu,” Erza said suddenly. Everyone turned to her as she continued, “Natsu’s infamous for his tendency of destruction. If the council wanted him, they’d refer to him by name.”

“Then, it’s…” the blonde trailed off in realization.

“Me…?” Makoto said. “But, I…”

“Hold up, you can’t arrest them!” Natsu protested. Makoto wasn’t sure what was happening, but he really hoped that Natsu had enough self-restraint to not barbecue the frog lady. “They didn’t do anything wrong! They helped save all of the guild masters’ lives!”

“Natsu!” Erza snapped. He froze in fear. She gave him a hard stare before her eyes softened and she turned to Makoto. “It might not be something you want to do, but we should just go quietly. It’ll be easier for everyone if there’s not a fuss.”

Makoto held her gaze for a moment before looking at Natsu, then over to Lucy, Maya, and Gray, and then finally the rest of the guild. “If you think that’s what we should do, I’ll trust you Erza,” he said after a while. “I don’t want to cause trouble for anyone.”

“I thank you for your cooperation,” the frog lady said. Makoto turned his head to see her standing right in front of them, holding two strange pairs of thick metal loops in her frog hands. Each pair of loops was connected via a red crystal ball.

( _“What the heck are—Oh,”_ ) Makoto thought to himself as he watched the frog lady place one of the pairs of rings on Erza’s wrists. ( _“Cuffs. Very strange-looking cuffs.”_ )

The frog lady then turned to him, but paused before placing the cuffs on him. “The Magic Council also requires your full name. What is it?” she asked.

“Oh, uh…” he stammered from the unexpected question. “I’m Makoto Naegi.” He offered her a small smile. “Nice to meet you.”

Natsu growled from where he stood. He was angry but at least he didn’t look like he was going to attack or anything. “Why the heck are you being so nice to her?! She’s arresting you!”

“Natsu, relax,” Makoto said as the cuffs were clamped around his wrists. He was momentarily distracted by the feeling that overtook him: it was the exact opposite of when he used a spell. Instead of his magic filling his entire body, it faded until he couldn’t feel it anymore. He shook it off and continued, “We’ll be fine, I’m sure of it!”

“But what if you’re _not_ sure?!” Makoto was almost knocked to his feet when a dark blue blur crashed into the side of his head. “I don’t wanna lose you, Mackie! Don’t goooo!” Maya wailed as she slid down onto his shoulder.

Even as his face went red from hearing the embarrassing nickname—she wasn’t going to stop calling him that, was she?—he smiled at her. “I’m sorry, Maya, but I have to. It’ll definitely be okay, though—I haven’t lied to you before, have I?”

She sniffled. “No, but…”

“Listen,” he said. An idea was coming to mind. “We’re partners—no, more than that, we’re family. Fairy Tail is my family too, so just wait here with your Big Brother Happy, because there’s no way I’m leaving behind family. Okay?”

Admittedly, calling Happy her big brother was a bit strange, but he could tell that the frog lady was beginning to grow impatient. Maya needed to calm down so they could go. Plus, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little bit embarrassed by her public display of affection.

Maya withdrew slightly and sniffed again as she rubbed away the tears, but they continued falling regardless when she nodded.

“Don’t worry, it won’t be long,” he smiled at her comfortingly when she took flight. “I’ll be back before you can say ‘yup yup’!” Maya stared at him again before she gave him another big nod. The frog lady led them out through the crowd.

When he passed by Lucy, Makoto stopped momentarily to murmur, “Look after her for me, will you?”

“Of course…” Lucy agreed, but her usual attitude was stunted by the event taking place. Makoto nodded gratefully at her before hurrying to catch up to Erza. The two of them followed the frog messenger around the corner to where their transport to the Magic Council was waiting for them.

Maya stared after where Makoto had disappeared and then drifted softly to the ground, where she landed on her butt and her wings vanished in a flash of light.

“Yup yup…”

* * *

 

Makoto thought that it would take a few hours, maybe even a couple of days or so to travel to wherever it was the Magic Council wanted them to be. He didn’t expect to be arriving there in a matter of seconds. As soon as they left Magnolia, the frog lady pulled a crystal out of her bag and in a flash of light, they were standing in front of a huge unfamiliar building. Erza explained to him that the handy dandy trinket was called a Teleportation Lacrima, and went a little further into detail when he told her he hadn’t seen such a thing before.

Lacrima were special crystals found in Fiore and their main use was to contain certain types of magic. It came in handy for people who couldn’t use the magic stored within, whether wizard or not. As evidenced by its name, the Lacrima they used contained Teleportation Magic and had brought them dozens of miles in an instant.

“So, uh,” Makoto began unsurely as they were led into the entrance of the building and down a few long hallways. “Is this the prison or something…?”

“This is the Magic Council’s building for the Fiore branch,” the frog lady answered matter-of-factly, as if she couldn’t believe he would even ask.

Makoto chuckled nervously. “R-Right, of course it is. So where are we going then?”

“The building located above.”

“You mean… the floating one?”

“Yes.”

Ignoring the painfully obvious question of how on earth they were going to get up there—because the last thing he needed was people questioning his lack of knowledge—Makoto instead asked, “What’s up there?”

“The Magic Council has gathered in the courtroom above,” the frog lady said. “That is where your trial will be held.”

“T- _Trial?!”_

Erza stopped when she realized Makoto had become frozen in place, and their guide was forced to come to a halt as well. The swordswoman was slightly surprised by the reveal of a trial, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t anticipated something similar. What was most alarming was Makoto’s reaction; gone was the friendly, cheerful optimist she had gotten to know. In its place was a side of him she never expected to see—not the serious side he’d exhibited during the Eisenwald incident, but one with an expression of absolute _terror._

“H-Hang on,” Makoto continued with a stammer. His eyes shifted between Erza and the messenger. “Nobody said _anything_ about a t-trial!”

_…_

_A bloody corpse._

_A dead friend._

_A chilling announcement._

_“After a certain amount of time has passed, we’ll hold a Class Trial!”_

_…_

Unbeknownst to the turmoil in Makoto’s mind, the messenger calmly stated, “Well, of course there’ll be a trial. The Magic Council will review the case and decide on what sort of punishment you’ll face should you both be found guilty.”

_…_

_Sixteen stands at the start._

_The numbers keep dwindling and dwindling because—_

_“But if you pick the_ wrong _one…”_

_…_

_“N-NO!”_ Makoto shouted out as he was flung back to reality. Erza and the messenger jumped from his sudden increase in volume and he shook his head fiercely. “Absolutely _not!_ I’m not going! I won’t!”

The frog lady, completely unprepared for such a disturbance, turned to the other Fairy Tail wizard and said, “Please, tell your friend to control himself!”

But Erza was as lost as the frog lady. She took a hesitant step forward. “Makoto, what—?”

“I won’t go! You hear me?!” he yelled at her immediately, taking a few steps backward in response. He tried to grab his head with his hands, but he ended up hiding his face behind his arms when the cuffs made that difficult. His entire body trembled as he squeezed his eyes shut to try and stop the nightmarish memories.

Erza frowned as she watched. She didn’t know any specifics, but it was glaringly obvious that something had happened to Makoto in the past—something _bad_ enough to leave him like this at the mere thought of going to trial. The last thing she wanted to do as his guildmate was force him to attend.

But that was just what she wanted, and there was no guarantee that the council would see it the same way. There would be some members who would definitely be lenient, and they could get lucky with a consensus from the rest of the council—but some of them might just see it as an unnecessary delay, and who knows what could happen then. She couldn’t take any chances.

Steeling herself, Erza carefully edged towards the frightened boy. He took no notice of her approach, simply repeating to himself in a terrified whisper, “It’s done, it’s over, it’s _supposed to be over—”_

“Makoto.”

He flinched, shaking his head again and shrinking away. “No no no, you can’t make me, I won’t do it…”

In one quick motion, Erza grabbed his hands and pulled them down away from his face. _“Makoto.”_

His eyes shot open, wide with terror, but there was a flicker of recognition as they met the redhead’s gaze. “E-Erza…?”

“I will be right here,” she stated firmly, tightening her grip on his hands. “You remember your promise to Maya, don’t you?”

It might’ve been her imagination, but she felt his tremors subside slightly. “M-Maya… I…”

“You promised her you’d be back as soon as possible,” Erza reminded him. She frowned softly. “But to do that, you need to calm down and attend the trial.”

He stiffened, and for a moment Erza worried that he’d panic again, but he took in a deep breath and shakily let it out. “N-No, you’re right… You and Maya are both with me, s-so it’s _definitely_ over… I-I just need to stop worrying about it right now…”

To say it would be difficult to keep it out of his mind was an understatement, but if he just kept reminding himself that it wasn’t like the past and Erza was with him, it might make it more manageable.

Makoto took in another breath and then nodded at Erza. “All right… I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

Erza gave him a once-over, checking for herself to see if he truly was all right for now, before turning back to the messenger. “I believe we’re ready to go.”

The frog lady held out an arm and said, “This way then, please.” She set off ahead of them, leaving the Fairy Tail wizards to catch up.

As Makoto found out, the way up to the higher building was almost identical to how they’d arrived at the Magic Council building in the first place. The frog lady led them to a small, empty room and with a push of the button on the wall, Makoto once again felt like he was floating in midair before his insides settled. When they left the room, the hallway was completely different to what it was before. Erza explained that it was a short-distance Teleportation Lacrima, but to Makoto it was basically a futuristic elevator.

“So why didn’t we just teleport up here to begin with?” Makoto wondered quietly as they walked.

“If I remember correctly, this building is restricted and only used by high-ranking people normally, or by the council themselves for trials such as this,” Erza replied. “So they have defenses in place to prevent anyone from just teleporting in here.”

“Oh, I get it.”

She gave him a sideways glance. “I’m slightly surprised that this is all new to you, Makoto.”

He flinched but tried to brush it off with a nervous chuckle. “Y-Yeah, I’ve seen a few things in my travels, but I guess I haven’t seen as much as I’d like to believe…”

( _“The last thing I need is Erza getting suspicious of my lack of knowledge. She already suspects something about my past because of that… e-episode…,”_ ) Makoto shut his eyes again. The less he thought about _that,_ the better. ( _“In some ways, it could be easier to just come clean. But… it’s not something I want people to know about, really… And besides, that could lead to them finding out about Earth. Sure, the people here are wizards and use magic, but I don’t know how they’d react to a whole other world out there—”_ )

Makoto looked up and barely bit back a yell when he narrowly avoided crashing into Erza’s back. He regained his balance and looked up at the redhead. He followed her gaze, at the end of which was a blue-haired man. He was leaning against a pillar outside a large pair of ornate doors. The man had a red tattoo that stretched above and below his right eye, and his eyes opened to scan over the two wizards.

“Siegrain!” Erza muttered angrily. Her feet widened and she took a defensive stance, glaring at him. Makoto looked between her and the messenger, who had instead given the man a low bow of respect. That left him with no idea how to react, but he tensed a little. Whether it was in response to his guildmate or a result of his panicked state that had yet to fully disappear, he wasn’t sure.

“It’s been quite a while, Erza,” he greeted calmly, in contrast to the redhead. “Please relax. I’m only here in spirit; I’m sending this projection from Era.” Siegrain turned his head to the doors in front of them. “In fact, all of the wrinkled faces in that courtroom are projections as well. We didn’t think it necessary to _be_ here for such a trivial matter.”

One part of Makoto registered the flicker of Siegrain’s form, like a TV with bad signal. He wondered curiously if it could be compared to magic holograms of some sort. The other part of him was furious beyond belief; trials were no laughing matter, and you only had to look at Makoto’s life a month ago to see the proof.

“I see. So you’re the one who’s behind this farce?” Erza spat with hatred. “You make me sick.”

“Let’s be civil,” Siegrain suggested as he walked past Erza, neither of them turning to face each other. Makoto tilted his head to the side to keep an eye on him. “I’ve always been a staunch defender of Fairy Tail. But the elders are worried that the blame for Clover’s destruction will fall into their laps. And the only way to avoid that is to place the blame on someone else entirely.” He huffed with amusement. “You and Fairy Tail’s new Dragon Slayer; you’re their scapegoats.”

 _“Enough!”_ Erza yelled as she whirled around and glared at him.

“Just a friendly warning.” Siegrain turned to face her as he said, “In fact, it’s another matter altogether that I wish to discuss with you.”

He held Erza’s chin between his fingers and leaned towards her right side—opposite to Makoto—and whispered something to her. Makoto strained to hear, concerned for the redhead, but even with his keen hearing everything sounded like white noise to him. The tiny scraps he _did_ manage to overhear weren’t enough to piece together anything.

“I must join my colleagues on the council,” Siegrain told them as he swept past the two of them again, both of them turning to face forward. “I’ll see you shortly on the other side.” He moved again and faded out of existence as he walked.

The messenger looked up at Erza with awe from where she was bowing. “Oh, wow… You know some very important people.”

Erza’s eyes were glued to the spot Siegrain was just standing. “He’s evil.”

Neither Makoto nor the messenger knew exactly how to respond to that statement. The frog lady tried to move on from what had happened and awkwardly usher the two towards the courtroom. Makoto, however, tucked the encounter away in his head. Erza clearly didn’t trust Siegrain; Makoto didn’t have enough of an opinion to say what he should think of him, but he felt it would be important to keep note of their exchange.

The doors to the courtroom swung open, and Makoto felt all his courage vanish.

The layout of the room was different, with the supposed council members seated on a giant structure in front of them—he could already pick out Siegrain’s electric-blue hair—but the thing that caught his attention the most was the witness stand. That was enough to make him want to throw up. Or bolt from the room.

Or both.

His fingers curled instinctively as something wormed its way into his grasp. He glanced down at the fingers entangled in his own and then looked up at Erza. She watched him with brown eyes full of concern and some sort of determination.

“I am right here,” she assured him.

He swallowed and nodded. “R-Right.” Holding onto Erza’s hand like a lifeline, they both ended up standing where they should. Now that he was behind the stand, he felt his mind go calm as if by instinct. It was strange, but it was better than panicking, so he took a deep breath and focused as the trial commenced.

“This courtroom will now come to order!” another frog lady announced as she banged a gavel. “Before us are the defendants, Erza Scarlet and Makoto Naegi.”

“Erza Scarlet, Makoto Naegi,” the man at the top of the structure started. Makoto could only assume that he was the chairman of the council, sitting all alone at the top like that. It was too far for Makoto to clearly make out any details about him, so he had no idea what the guy looked like. “You stand before the council to answer to charges stemming from the incident involving the dark guild, Eisenwald. These charges include extensive damage to Oshibana Station, the collapse of the Clover Canyon railway bridge, and the complete destruction of the Clover meeting hall.”

“There are eleven property damage charges against the both of you collectively,” he continued. “According to eyewitness reports, the perpetrators are described as a heavily armored female wizard and an average-looking brown-haired Dragon Slayer.”

Makoto couldn’t help but sweatdrop. ( _“Even in Earthland, I’m average among average.”_ ) Fully processing the charges pressed against them, he paused as he realized something felt off about what was just said.

“H-Hold on a minute!”

The entire council, as well as Erza, seemed surprised he’d spoken out at all. Makoto steeled himself and continued, “Why is Erza being accused of any of this? All she did at the station was take out the Eisenwald members; she didn’t cause any of the damage there! I should know—I was there! She wasn’t even on the railway bridge when _Erigor_ from _Eisenwald_ destroyed it! And the meeting hall wasn’t one person’s fault! There was no way to avoid something like that—there should also be reports of the giant monster that was threatening everyone there, it was just in defense—!”

He was interrupted when the chairman demanded, “Silence!” and smacked his gavel loudly.

…

_The little bear grinned maliciously. The wooden gavel hung in the air above the large red button._

_“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s PUNISHMENT TIME!”_

_THUD._

_THUD._

_THUD._

_He squeezed his eyes shut as the loud slam resounded from just behind him. The machine hissed, raising the block. The conveyor belt whirred, bringing him closer and closer until he was directly underneath—_

…

Makoto flinched violently and took a step back reflexively. Erza turned immediately, reaching out for his hand and grasping it both for reassurance and to prevent matters from worsening if he tried to run out.

The chairman, seeming as if he only cared that his demand had been met, stated, “Makoto Naegi.” Said boy’s head shot up from suddenly being addressed. The chairman paused for a moment before saying, “Fairy Tail is the first guild you have joined, correct?”

“U-Uhh… Y-Yes, sir,” he answered and then swallowed in an attempt to control his nerves. It looked as though the brief flashback had stolen away all of his composure.

“And where do you currently live?”

“I-In Magnolia…”

“And before that?”

“Huh?”

Makoto got the feeling that the chairman was eyeing him with interest. “Our biggest concern with you is that the council possesses no previous records on you. No previous affiliations or residence records. So you can understand that we want information.”

His heart started pounding in his chest. Crap, what was he supposed to say?! He tried to think but his brain wouldn’t respond fast enough, still reeling from being reminded of the past. “I-I, just… t-travelling, and—”

And the doors behind him exploded.

That resulted in him being simultaneously shocked and relieved beyond belief. At least he didn’t have to answer that question now… He winced as a wave of heat washed over him and smoke began pouring in the room. It didn’t feel like a normal explosion—and yes, he did have a run-in with one—because there wasn’t a large force behind it. Makoto looked through the smoke curiously to see who in their right mind would be dumb enough to—

“I’m the crazy lady in armor you old timers have been looking for!” Natsu announced as he jumped out from the hole in the wall. Not in his normal outfit, but dressed in a very crude imitation of Erza. The costume—if it could be called that—consisted of a red wig that barely hid his pink hair, barrels to act as the armor, and rope to hold it all together. It didn’t help that he was also breathing fire. “If you have a problem with the way me and my guild do things, you can fight me! _I am the all-powerful Erza!”_

Happy then appeared by his side, with a spiky brown wig perched on top of his head, his ears poking through the strands of hair. “Aye! And I’m Makoto, the Earth Dragon Slayer! Arrest us if you can!”

( _“What the heck are those two doing?!”_ ) Makoto thought in exasperation. Suddenly, something crashed into his chest at high speeds and knocked him off balance. He was stable enough to stay standing though, and not tumble into the stand behind him.

Makoto’s eyes widened as he recognized the furry something clinging to his chest. “M-Maya?! What are you—?!”

“We’re here to help, Mackie!” she announced. There was a pregnant pause before she gasped loudly and pulled away, pointing rapidly between the dressed-up Happy and Makoto. “I mean, _he’s_ the real Mackie! How dare you try to impersonate Mackie!”

Makoto stared at the three of them, unsure of exactly how to react to their disturbance. Natsu just finished one of his infamous roars that resulted in another destroyed wall and grinned proudly. Happy, as part of his ‘Makoto’ disguise, picked up a piece of the rubble and shoved it in his mouth. A moment later, he tried to spit it out subtly and failed miserably.

The chairman sighed and smacked his gavel. “Take them away.”

“I’m truly sorry for this, Your Honor,” Erza apologized.

“Hey, what the heck’re you doing, Erza?! Don’t apologize to these council jerks! U-Uh, I mean—I AM ERZA!”

* * *

 

Night had already fallen by the time they were led into the jail cell and left alone. The magic-sealing cuffs that Makoto and Erza were wearing had been removed; it looked as though the cells had some sort of anti-magic of their own. Not that the lack of magic was much of a problem. If they tried to escape, it would get them into even _more_ trouble, so it wasn’t really a viable option to begin with.

The cell was roomy enough though, so the gatecrashers found themselves on one side of the jail cell, heads down in shame as the arrested wizards looked at them with a mixture of irritation and disappointment.

“Words can’t express how angry I am with you three,” Erza growled as the three shrunk in on themselves further. “That trial was just a formality!”

“Seriously?” Natsu whispered.

“It’s a glorified spectacle!” she snapped. “The council is using us as examples to remind everyone that if you break the law, you’ll be punished. It helps them maintain order.”

“Wait a minute…” Happy realized. “So this is all for show?”

“They probably would’ve found us guilty, and then sent us home with just a slap on the wrist. But thanks to you, we’re all stuck in a jail cell!” she yelled. Erza turned away from them with a huff and muttered, “I can’t believe you…”

“Bu—Ah—I-I’m sorry,” Natsu stammered quietly.

“Aye…”

“Yup yup…” the two cats chorused as well.

Erza sighed but gave a small smile. “I know… You meant well.” She moved closer to Natsu and brought his head forth for a hug—which of course ended with his head smacking against her armor breastplate.

“Ack—! Ow, that hurt!” he whined. The rest of the wizards laughed, enjoying each other’s company in the darkness of the jail cell.

Maya padded over to Makoto, playing with her bow nervously. “You’re not still mad, are you Mackie?”

Makoto smiled. “Of course not.” He opened his arms and Maya instantly rushed forward, almost stumbling over her paws in her haste. She clung to his shirt, purring as Makoto scratched behind her ears. “I am wondering why you came along, though.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” she said, blinking up at him. “You’re _my_ family, so I can’t leave you behind either! Wherever you go, I go!”

Makoto’s heart melted and he hugged her a little tighter. He felt the laughter bubbling in his chest as he heard her mumble, “Besides, there’s no way Happy’s my older brother. He’s at most my little brother, yup yup.”

“WHAT?! There’s no way I’m younger than you!”

“I refused to acknowledge you as my older brother! Mackie’s already basically my big brother!”

“You can have _more_ than one older brother!”

“But calling you that would put you on the same level as him, and there’s no way that’s happening!”

“What?! Come on, Natsu, help me out here!”

“I dunno. You’re pretty little, Happy.”

“YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE BACKING ME UP, YOU TRAITOR!”

Makoto grinned broadly. Yes, family was the perfect way to describe it.

* * *

 

“Who would’a thought fresh air could smell so sweet?! I’ll never take the smell of freedom for granted again! WOOHOO!”

Makoto let out a quiet groan as he buried his face deeper into his arms. _Definitely_ family, because he seemed to have a habit of having family members that just _loved_ to torment the boy in the mornings.

Granted, it _was_ the afternoon and Makoto _was_ normally a morning person, but there was a difference between being in a good mood in the mornings and actually physically waking up. Admittedly, he struggled with the latter. Especially when the previous night consisted of sleeping on cold, stone floors.

When they’d finally been released from the prison, the Fairy Tail wizards were all expecting to be back home within the hour. They were also expecting the Teleportation Lacrima they were given to work properly. Of course, with Makoto’s luck, it didn’t. Instead, it brought them just short of Magnolia’s location—and so they had to walk the last ten miles.

That was the second thing that contributed to Makoto’s lingering bad mood.

“Isn’t he precious when he gets all excited?” Mira cooed from behind the counter. The rest of Fairy Tail were relieved when the wizards returned, and even more so when they heard about the truth behind the arrest. Of course, the relief had worn off by now and most were at their wit’s end listening to Natsu shout about freedom for the seventh time since coming back.

“Natsu…” Makoto began slowly. “We spent _five hours_ walking here; will you shut up about the fresh air already?”

His idea to speak up backfired, as Natsu turned to him with an excited gleam in his eyes. “Hey, we never finished our fight! Come on, let’s pick up where we left off!”

Makoto sunk back into his arms. “Please, Natsu. I’m tired and grumpy and sleep-deprived. Not right now, okay?”

“Not gonna happen!” Natsu grinned as his fists burst into fire. “I’m not letting you off the hook so easy!”

Makoto lazily opened one of his eyes and jerked when he realized the Dragon Slayer was charging right for his table. Makoto leaped to his feet, attempting to get out of the way—and his foot got caught on the bench, leaving him to slam straight to the floor, right in Natsu’s path.

Natsu, who failed to realize this, kept going until he ran into Makoto, tripped over his torso, fell forward, and smacked his forehead hard against another table’s edge, knocking himself unconscious.

The guild hall fell completely silent.

Maya turned to Cana and asked, “So how much are my winnings since Mackie beat him?”

That kickstarted everyone’s reactions. They all cheered and laughed, congratulating Makoto on his admittedly-unorthodox victory. He just took his seat again, not really sure what had just happened. ( _“I was… not expecting that at all. But, I guess it works out…?”_ )

Gray and Elfman were laughing their asses off at the outcome of the long anticipated duel. “Guess we know who the _real_ man is!” Elfman remarked with a smirk.

Mira smiled at the reactions of the guild. They would’ve been fine with either outcome, but there was always something satisfying about watching Natsu get beaten when he’d been the challenger in the first place. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Makarov nodding off slightly. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m fine. Just sleepy…” Makarov looked up with heavy-lidded eyes as he stared down at the entrance to the guild. “He’s coming.”

Makoto blinked, a heavy wave of drowsiness suddenly hitting him. He stifled a yawn and struggled to keep his eyes open. All around him, his guildmates collapsed one by one, either onto the table, the floor, or straight into their plate of food. He watched Maya collapse on the table in front of him in a sleepy pile of furry limbs—

And then jerked awake to find himself lying on the bench. Makoto pulled himself into a sitting position and surveyed the area as the other members were rubbing their eyes or shaking their heads. “Did we all just fall asleep?” he questioned, immensely disoriented by his sudden nap.

“Yes. That was Mystogan’s doing.” Makoto looked up at Erza’s voice. She walked over and sat down beside him. It looked like the nap was nothing more than an inconvenience to her, considering she didn’t look tired still.

“Mystogan?”

“He’s one of the contenders for Fairy Tail’s strongest wizard,” Elfman answered from a few tables down.

“For some reason, he doesn’t want anyone seeing what he looks like,” Gray joined in. “So whenever he comes here to take a job, he puts everyone to sleep.”

“That’s kinda creepy,” Lucy commented after a moment’s pause.

Gray glanced over to the old man who was sitting cross-legged on top of the counter. “Master Makarov’s the only one here who’s gotten a good look at his face.”

“That’s not true,” an unfamiliar voice rang out across the guild hall. “I’ve seen him before.”

Makoto’s eyes shot up to the second-floor balcony. Standing there was an unfamiliar man with blonde hair dressed in an orange shirt and a large black jacket with fur along the edges. He also wore spiked headphones and a lightning shaped scar ran across his right eye. He leaned casually against the railing, eyeing each of the members with a smirk.

“He’s another contender for Fairy Tail’s strongest,” Erza muttered to Makoto. “Laxus.”

“Mystogan’s just a little shy,” Laxus continued. “You should all respect his privacy.”

Just waking up from his self-induced ‘nap’, Natsu shot to his feet and loudly declared, “All right, Laxus! You and me, right now!”

“You just woke up now?” Maya questioned.

Gray sighed and didn’t even look at the pink-haired guy. “Wasn’t getting your butt handed to you by Makoto enough for one day?”

Laxus raised an eyebrow. “Who’s this Makoto kid?”

“That’s me,” the brown-haired Dragon Slayer called out. “I’m Makoto.”

Much to his self-esteem’s chagrin, Laxus immediately burst out laughing. “Are you _kidding_ me? You lost against _this_ kid? Talk about pathetic, Natsu!”

Maya’s fur bristled instantly. “Hey, you—!”

“Maya, calm down please,” Makoto interrupted. The cat whirled towards him as if to argue, but one look at his serious face convinced her to silently seethe instead.

“You’re nowhere near my level,” Laxus continued to boast, not hearing the cat’s short cry of rage. “I’m stronger than the redhead, after all!”

“What did you say?” Erza growled threateningly, standing up from her seat. Gray attempted to placate her by saying, “No need to get worked up, Erza…!”

Laxus held out his arms with a sweeping motion. “I’m saying that I’m the guild’s strongest wizard!”

“Then come down here and prove it,” Natsu demanded.

“You come to me, little man,” he taunted back.

“With pleasure!” Natsu hopped off of the table and leaped over the counter, heading for the stairs to the second floor. Before Natsu could even place his foot above the first step, Makarov moved with barely a glance. The Dragon Slayer was stopped in his tracks by the master’s giant fist squashing him flat.

“You’re not allowed on the second floor, Natsu,” Makarov stated. “At least, not yet.”

Laxus laughed and said in a teasing way, “I think you made him grumpy!”

“Shut up!” Natsu struggled to stand from the weight of Makarov’s fist.

“That’s enough out of you, Laxus,” the master scolded.

“The most powerful one in the guild isn’t a chick or some hooded weirdo,” Laxus declared. “You wanna know what the strongest wizard looks like? You’re looking right at him!”

_“You’ve got that wrong!”_

The shout was accompanied by the resounding thud of a fist colliding with a table top. Laxus’ smirk was wiped from his face. The guild once again lapsed into silence and stared at the one who made the outburst.

Makoto gritted his teeth. His fist trembled from how tight he was both clenching it and driving it into the table. He’d heard enough.

“Excuse you?” Laxus said in a dangerously low tone.

“You heard me,” he retorted without missing a beat. “Calling yourself the strongest? I’d say you don’t know the first thing about strength.”

The scarred blonde’s face contorted into a snarl. “You better sit your ass down, kid, before I sit it down for you.”

Makoto shook his head. “You’re definitely not strong… I’ve seen it myself. I’ve seen what real strength looks like…” With his eyes closed, he could see them in his mind: the two smiling faces of the strongest people he knew.

…

_“I’m going to get stronger… and accept who I am…”_

_“I will no longer retreat, no longer compromise, no longer regret… I’ve made my decision! I’m going… to resist you!”_

…

His burning hazel eyes shot open—he yelled, “And you’re _nothing_ like them!”

Laxus was left silent for a few moments, surprised by the kid’s nerve. And then he started to laugh. It was a quiet laugh to begin with, but then it grew into one that echoed around the guild hall.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, kid,” he said simply. He held out his hand and clenched it into a ball. “The strongest is the one with the most power, and that’s all there is to it.”

* * *

 

After that, Makoto left the guild in a hurry, Maya trailing behind him in the air. He knew it was possible for him to act foolishly when he got livid—which was a rarity in and of itself—and with his potentially destructive magic on his side, he decided it was best to cool off before he did a Natsu and destroyed a few bits of furniture, or worse.

He ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in South Gate Park, which, true to its name, was located in the southern parts of Magnolia. He just picked a tree and sat against it, watching Maya play around with children passing by or petting her when she decided to have a rest in his lap.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize it had gotten late until Maya poked him and pointed to the bright, white moon rising in the sky. Jumping to his feet and leaving the park, Makoto found himself heading towards the guild hall without really thinking about it.

“Oh, Makoto! You’re back!”

Almost everyone had left by the time he pushed open the large doors. The only people who were still around in the hall were Mira and Lucy, the former being the one who greeted him. He smiled at them as he walked over to the bar. It was great that the blonde was there. It meant they could walk back home together.

“Hey, guys,” he greeted as he took a seat. “Sorry about storming out earlier. What are you two still doing here?”

“I was just asking Mira why we aren’t allowed up on the second floor,” Lucy replied.

“Is it because it’s str—stru—strack—poorly held together?” Maya asked, giving up halfway through whatever word she was going to say. She made a grumpy face. “I hope that meanie-pants Laxus falls through the floor, yup yup…”

“Play nice,” Makoto reminded her as the two girls laughed.

“Not really,” Mira said. “That area is reserved for advanced members of the guild. The jobs that are listed on the request board up there make the ones listed down here look like child’s play in comparison. They’re called S-Class quests.”

“S-Class?” Lucy asked.

“They’re jobs so dangerous that one wrong move could be your last,” Mira warned them. “But with that risk comes a higher reward. Master Makarov handpicks the wizards he thinks are capable of handling these jobs. There are only five people in the entire guild who are considered S-Class.”

“They must be pretty dangerous…” Makoto muttered. “If Makarov only thinks that five people out of everyone here can take them on.”

“Laxus, Mystogan, and Erza are all S-Class wizards, you know. But I wouldn’t worry too much about it if I were you two,” she said. “In my opinion, there’s no amount of money that’s worth risking your life over.”

“Definitely,” Makoto nodded. “You can’t put a price on someone’s life.” He tried not to bring the mood down, but it reminded him again of one of the incidents at Hope’s Peak.

( _“I’ve really been thinking about that a lot recently, haven’t I…?”_ )

“Is that all you wanted to ask?” Mira inquired.

“Yeah, thanks for clearing that up,” Lucy nodded. “We’ll be heading off then.”

“See you tomorrow, you guys.” They waved the bartender farewell as they left the guild, walking the streets of Magnolia as the moon and stars shone down on them.

“…And then Natsu came in, screaming like a banshee and proclaiming that he was Erza, all while wearing an awful disguise and spewing fire everywhere!” Makoto recounted. Lucy burst out laughing in response.

“No way! He really did that?” she asked between her giggles.

“His costume was absolutely ridiculous,” he grinned. “There was a rubber duck attached to one of his wooden armbands. And geez, then there was Happy! He was pretending to be me, so he tried eating some rocks, which obviously didn’t end well.”

“Sounds like it was entertaining, at the very least,” she smiled.

“Those two sure are silly, aren’t they?” Maya joined in, resting on Makoto’s head. “Charging in with a not-very-well-thought-out plan.”

“Didn’t you barge in with them?”

“Well, yeah, but they wouldn’t go with my plan!” she said to Lucy. The cat huffed. “They said it’d be difficult to find a super awesome mega castle robot to attack the building with…”

Makoto and Lucy shared a glance and sweatdropped. At least they avoided a major catastrophe that day.

Makoto let out a quiet sigh. “…It was really nerve-wracking, though. I only found out about the trial last minute, and I never knew it was just for show.” His cheeks turned red at his next thought. “And it’s easy to laugh now, but it was embarrassing when they barged in as well. You should’ve seen how mad Erza was with them.”

“I’d rather not…” Lucy sighed before she looked back up as something flashed through her mind. “Oh, that reminds me. How do you get along with Erza so well? I mean, I don’t think she’s ever yelled at you or anything.”

“Well, there was that time Natsu and Mackie let that shadow Eisenwald guy escape on the train,” Maya cheerfully pointed out.

Makoto rubbed his cheek. “Yeah, but…” He stopped before he went any further. There was no point in complaining about it now.

Lucy shrugged. “I guess there’s always gotta be that one time. I bet it’s like a rite of passage in Fairy Tail to be yelled at by her at least once.”

“Probably,” Makoto said. He paused and gave her original question some thought. “Hmm… I don’t know. I suppose I’m just a person who can get along with most people.”

All the good memories of his friends at Hope’s Peak came flooding back and made him smile wistfully. Whether it was engaging in activities together or just sitting down and talking… Those were the best moments of his school life. Even with those he struggled to get along with sometimes—Byakuya came to mind pretty quickly—there was still something enjoyable in their time spent together.

Lucy stared at the expression on his face. She wondered if she’d one day know what he was thinking about. The two of them were distracted from their thoughts when their apartment building came up.

“Looks like we’re here.” They entered the door and walked up the stairs to their apartment’s entrance. Lucy stuck the key in and opened the door and instantly let out a scream.

Makoto poked his head in just in time to see Lucy kick Natsu and Happy off of her bed. “You guys stink! Why don’t you jerks work out at your own house?!” she demanded angrily.

“Now, Lucy, if we want to work together as a team, we gotta train like one!” Natsu held out a pink dumbbell towards her expectantly. Happy poked out from behind Natsu and added, “We thought you’d like the pink one!”

“I don’t care what color it is! I’m not lifting weights with you!” she shouted.

“How’d you guys even get in here anyway?” Makoto questioned, glancing back to the door that was locked when they arrived.

“In through the window!” Happy exclaimed as they both began doing pushups.

Maya giggled quietly to herself. “Intruder window…”

“We’ve gotta kick it up a notch if we’re going to beat Laxus and Erza,” Natsu said. He increased the speed of his pushups and Happy followed suit.

“Aye, sir!”

“I just want a little piece and quiet!” Lucy complained. “Now get out!”

“Don’t worry,” Natsu said in a hushed voice. “We’ll train quietly, Lucy.”

Lucy grabbed a pillow from her bed and buried her face into it. “Why does this kind of stuff always happen to me…?”

“I’ve made a decision!” Natsu announced as he jumped to his feet. There was an undertone of excitement to his voice that set off all sorts of alarm bells in Makoto’s head. “Our team is ready for the big time! S-Class!”

“Yeah! Check it out!” Happy stood on the desk, holding a crumpled sheet of paper in his paws. Leaning in closer, it was clearly a job request from the guild. The words ‘HELP US!’ were printed in bold along the top of it with a sketch of an island taking up most of the paper.

The most prominent thing was the bright red stamp that denoted the mission as S-Class.

“Wait, that’s—!” Makoto shouted.

“How did you get that?!” Lucy blurted. “I thought we weren’t allowed to go on the second floor!”

“Well, I just climbed the stairs and took it!” Happy explained simply.

“You little cat burglar!” she yelled at him while he gave a little snicker.

“Since this is our first S-Class quest, we decided to go with the smallest reward we found on the board.” Natsu gave a happy grin. “But 7 million is still a lot of jewel!”

“Are you serious?! We’re not qualified for this sort of thing!” Makoto protested. “Lucy and I are as green as you can get, and if the master thought you were ready to take on those missions, Natsu, he’d have made you an S-Class wizard by now!”

“You and Lucy aren’t green-colored…”

“Green as in we’re new to the guild!”

Maya gave a shrug. “There’s silly and then there’s insane, but I think Natsu’s got a whole other level just for himself, yup yup.”

“I think Gramps’ll end up being proud of us if we actually pull it off!” Natsu grinned.

“He’ll probably be angry because we broke guild rules,” Makoto said. He suppressed a shiver. “Punishment is _not_ the kind of thing I want on my mind right now.”

Natsu huffed and folded his arms across his chest. “We’ll never make S-Class with that kind of attitude.”

“It’s not about climbing through the ranks!” Makoto retorted. “We would be putting our lives in danger by taking this on prematurely.”

“Fine, don’t come with us,” Natsu shrugged and put an arm around a surprised Lucy. “We’ll just take Lucy with us and go.”

“Who said I was coming with you?” she questioned.

Happy held up the sheet again. “Along with the 7 million jewel, the person who completes the job also gets a golden gate key!”

“Really?! I’m so there!”

“Lucy!”

“What?” The blonde looked away, having the decency to look a little bit sheepish. “Golden gate keys are incredibly rare, okay? I can’t pass up a chance like this.”

Makoto looked at all three wizards, weighed up all his options in his mind, and then gave an exasperated groan. “All right, all right. I’m going too.”

“Woohoo! We’re going on an S-Class quest!”

“Aye, sir!”

“What made you change your mind?” Lucy asked as Natsu and Happy celebrated in the background.

Makoto rubbed his head. “You guys are going to go no matter what I say. I’m just coming to make sure you don’t end up killing yourselves. Besides, this is better than waking up in the morning to find you just left anyway.”

“All right, team!” Natsu suddenly appeared between the two of them and slung his arms around their shoulders, pulling them in close. Happy and Maya hovered in the air beside them. The Fire Dragon Slayer grinned at all of them. “Pack your bags, ‘cause we’re going to Galuna Island!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look at that, it's written and stuff happened.
> 
> Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter, tho probably more than Makoto enjoyed that trial (sosz for putting our puppy through that). AND DAT CATCHPHRASE APPEARS. Galuna Island, here we come!
> 
> Also I caught up with the manga and everything and WAITING FOR CHAPTER 488 SO DESPERATELY. Also I read the Christmas special (Ch 462.5) and THERE IS DRUNK KING’S GAME AND IT IS JUST AS GLORIOUS AS IT WAS IN PERSONA 4.
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	11. The Cursed Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team begin their unofficial S-Class quest and are left with a seemingly impossible task.

Contrary to popular belief, mornings at Fairy Tail did not always start with destruction and chaos—there were occasional days when this happened, but mostly it was scheduled to start around lunchtime. Even so, it was rare to get through any morning without there being some mention of fights. Considering what happened the day before, there was one particular event on everyone’s mind.

“I didn’t think Makoto had it in him,” Macao said and raised his mug to his lips.

His partner Wakaba fiddled with the cigarette in his mouth. “Gotta agree with you there. He seems like the type who’d forgive and make friends with someone robbing him.”

Overhearing the two from a table nearby, Cana added in her own two cents. “Face it; we’ve all been itching to give that jerk a piece of our minds.” She fell silent for a moment as she resumed her drinking. “Can’t believe Makoto was the one to finally work up the nerve, though.”

Gray, who was sitting next to her—in a manner of speaking, since she was atop the table—said, “I’ve never seen him so pissed. It was kind of like he’d turned into Flame-brain for a moment there.”

Cana turned her gaze to the front entrance, as if she was expecting the brown-haired wizard to walk in at that moment. “Kinda makes you wonder why, though. He stormed out the guild hall and everything.”

That same question was currently plaguing Makarov’s mind as well. From his seat on top of the bar, he could hear quite a few of the conversations around him, including Cana’s—and the popular topic this morning was Makoto’s outburst at Laxus yesterday.

The old man closed his eyes. His grandson’s condescending bragging wasn’t anything unusual, unfortunately, but Makoto’s actions were completely out of character, he felt. He had no idea what would make the Dragon Slayer act out like he did. Thinking about it, Makarov didn’t actually know that much about the boy; just that he’d been raised by a dragon and had traveled since then until meeting Maya, Natsu, and Lucy in Hargeon.

But based on the things Makoto had said, Makarov doubted he’d been talking about his dragon. After all, he’d said _‘them’_ —as in, multiple people. But what caught his attention more was the expression Makoto displayed for a brief moment: sadness and pain. That was the most concerning thing to him. Makarov took a drink of his coffee.

“Master, this is terrible! One of the S-Class quests has gone missing!”

Perhaps he should have another chat with Makoto. It wasn’t something he particularly wanted to pry about, especially if it was a difficult memory the boy was thinking of. However, Makarov saw all the guild members as his little brats, so if there was some way he could help then—

Makarov spat out his coffee immediately as he finally registered Mira’s panicked announcement.

The rest of the guild hall was relatively quiet when Mira called out, and so the other wizards naturally overheard the alarming news. “What? One of the jobs from the second floor is missing?” Wakaba repeated incredulously.

“But the jobs up there are S-Class quests,” Macao said. “Anyone know who took off with it?”

One of Fairy Tail’s other wizards, a purple-haired girl called Laki, shook her head. “Well, it’s either someone really strong or really stupid.”

“I know,” a condescending voice rang out from the second floor. Everyone turned their heads and saw Laxus sitting at one of the tables nearest to the railing. His feet were kicked up and he was acting way too relaxed for the situation. He smirked. “A little blue cat came up and ripped it off the board.”

Mira whirled around. “Was it Happy or Maya?”

Laxus gave an uncaring shrug. “Who knows? I didn’t even know Fairy Tail had a second fleabag.”

“Then the ones who have the quest are probably Natsu and Lucy, or Makoto!” Wakaba shouted.

“Would Makoto really take it, though?” Macao argued. “The kid’s got a good head on his shoulders. I don’t see him breaking the guild rules so easily.”

“He could still be fired up from yesterday. Plus, he hasn’t turned up at the guild hall today.” Wakaba paused for a moment. “Come to think of it, Natsu and Lucy haven’t shown up either.”

“Think they all went together?”

Alzack grimaced. “They’ve got some nerve, taking on an S-Class quest.”

“I don’t know if I’d call it ‘nerve’,” Bisca said from beside him. “But it’s definitely dumb.”

“That’s a serious breach of the rules,” Laxus said arrogantly. “Hey, Gramps! A stunt like that’ll get you kicked out of the guild, am I right?” He scoffed. “Not that it matters, anyway. There’s no way those morons are coming back alive from an S-Class quest.”

“Laxus!” The blonde S-Class wizard turned to see Mira standing in front of the table. The bartender had her hands placed on her hips disapprovingly. “If you knew about it, why didn’t you stop them?!”

“Oh, lighten up. All I saw was a blue cat flying off with a piece of paper in its mouth, trying to look all sneaky. I had no idea it was Happy or that other cat,” Laxus said ‘innocently’. The entertained grin only helped ruin the act. “Besides, Natsu’s not cleared for S-Class. I never _dreamed_ he’d break the rules.”

Laxus looked up—and was met with a terrifying glare on Mira’s face. He simply huffed in amusement.

“Wow. You haven’t given me _that_ look in a while.”

Down on the first floor, Makarov sighed to himself. It was barely eight in the morning, and he already had to deal with his guild’s shenanigans. Unfortunately, it was more than just a petty brawl this time. That would’ve been much more preferable to this situation. “This isn’t good…” He raised his voice to Mira. “Well? Which job was it?”

Mira frowned, her eyes never leaving Laxus’ smirking face. “For lifting the curse on… Galuna Island.”

Makarov’s eyes widened. _“What?!”_

“Galuna Island?!”

“Are they _insane?!”_

“They’re even dumber than we thought!” the rest of the wizards yelled in shock.

“Laxus!” Makarov shouted. “Go and fetch them at once!”

“Yeah, right. I got better things to do, Gramps!” he scoffed. “That kid from yesterday’s with them, isn’t he? Like I’m going to help out _that_ insufferable brat. He should learn to respect those stronger than him. And besides, everyone in Fairy Tail is supposed to be able to take care of themselves.” A sharp glint appeared in his eyes. _“Right?”_

“I don’t care how you feel about Natsu and Makoto,” Makarov yelled. “Erza left yesterday and won’t be back for a while. The fact is: you’re the only one strong enough to bring them back by force!”

The sound of a chair being scraped across the wooden floor caused him to turn around. Gray was on his feet, looking at the short man with disappointment and determination. “Sorry, Master. But I’m afraid I gotta disagree with you.”

* * *

 

Lucy took in a deep breath of the morning air, standing in the middle of one of the many streets winding around Hargeon. She let out a happy sigh. “Wow, this brings back memories… It seems like only yesterday when we all met here for the first time.”

“It practically _was_ yesterday,” Natsu grumbled. He was still grumpy from having to take the train again. At least they got some food after they left the train station. “You don’t have to get all mushy.”

“Yeah, you sound like an old lady!” Happy joked. He looked away nervously when Lucy shot him a glare.

“You’re wrong, Natsu,” Maya argued. She was sitting back in Makoto’s hood, her tail hanging out and waving back and forth every few seconds. “It was like _ages_ ago! Like ‘once upon a time’ ages ago! Like ‘this would be a good prologue’ ages ago!”

“You guys are both exaggerating,” Makoto said. “It was just three weeks ago.”

But Lucy had a point; it was incredibly nostalgic to be back in Hargeon. If someone had told him a month ago that he’d end up with magic and make friends with a fire breather and two flying cats, he’d have told them they were crazy. They all met by chance in Hargeon, complete strangers. And yet, here he was, on another wizard job with his team.

Very reluctantly, but it was the thought that counted.

“Well,” Lucy interrupted, bringing them back on track. “Let’s go find a boat that’ll take us to Galuna!”

“ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Natsu immediately shouted in protest. “Forget the boat; I just went through the nightmare of a train ride in the middle of the night! Why can’t we all just swim for it?!”

“And you think _I’m_ the one who’s crazy…?”

“I’m no more enthusiastic about the boat than you are,” Makoto said as they headed towards the water’s edge. “But it’s impossible to swim all the way. I’m sure someone will take us.”

…

 “Galuna Island? No way! Not for a million jewel!”

“Around here, it’s bad luck to even mention that name.”

…

“Sorry kids, but I don’t think anyone here would be willing to take you.”

“That island’s cursed, so unless you’ve got a death wish, I’d stay far away.”

…

“Don’t know why you’d want to go there, but no sailor worth his salt will take you to Galuna. Not even pirates will go near that place.”

“Are you serious?” Lucy asked the latest sailor they were talking to.

An entire pier’s worth of sailors later, the three wizards were struggling to find anyone who wouldn’t react to the words ‘Galuna Island’ with an expression of shock or alarm. Makoto groaned inwardly. He wished the job paper had some information about the supposed ‘curse’, but there wasn’t any mention of anything that could suggest why everyone was so terrified of the place.

He looked up from the ocean to look at his teammates—and paled considerably. “Uh, guys…?”

Neither of them paid him any attention. Natsu had been gradually working up a grin after every failed attempt. After they got shot down by the sailor, he smiled broadly and said, “Looks like we’re gonna be swimming after all!”

“Sure does!” Happy agreed.

“We’re _not_ swimming, Natsu!” Lucy shouted at him.

The blonde and pink duo jumped and screamed when a hand landed on their shoulders and someone said in a sing-song voice, “I found you!”

“Yeah, Gray’s here, by the way,” Makoto stated casually.

“What are you doing here?!” Natsu demanded when they whirled around.

“Gramps found out about your harebrained scheme and sent me to bring you back,” Gray replied nonchalantly.

“Why? We’re not in danger yet!” Natsu protested.

“If you come back now, you _might_ avoid being kicked out of the guild,” he informed them. His mouth twitched into a smirk. _“Maybe.”_

“I knew this would be a bad idea…” Makoto complained.

“Why’d you go, then?” Gray asked as he faced him.

The Dragon Slayer shrugged. “You know Natsu better than I do. There was no convincing him otherwise, so I thought the best plan was to just come and make sure he didn’t kill himself.”

“That’s right! I’m going on this S-Class quest and you can’t stop me!” Natsu shouted.

Gray frowned in annoyance. “Man, you’re way out of your league here. Just come home.” His expression turned into one of fear as he continued, “When Erza finds out about this, she’s gonna be so angry!”

At the mention of the redheaded wizard, Makoto watched everyone flinch in fear. ( _“I mean, I guess she’s kinda scary, but she’s just a normal person. Or, as normal as Fairy Tail wizards can get.”_ )

If there was one thing anyone needed to know about Natsu, it was that he was unbelievably stubborn, and this could be either a good thing or a bad thing. Makoto felt that it was the worst thing in the world at the moment. “I’ve gotta prove my power to Erza, so like it or not, I’m doing this!”

“Master ordered me to bring you home!” Gray shouted back. “I’ll _drag_ you back to Fairy Tail if I have to! Don’t make me hurt you, buddy!” Cold mist formed around his hand as a mound of ice appeared in it.

Natsu held out his hand and it ignited instantly. “I’d like to see you try!”

“Excuse me, but are you wizards?” the sailor in the boat inquired as he stood up. Makoto blinked as he had completely forgotten about the bystander. “Have you come to lift the curse on the island?”

“Yeah!” Natsu laughed.

“Maybe…?” Lucy said uncertainly. Makoto shrugged, not knowing either.

“Not gonna happen!” Gray growled.

The cloaked sailor stared at the four of them in disbelief, unable to say a word. After a few seconds, he suddenly jerked a thumb towards his boat and said, “Get in.”

“Seriously?” Natsu asked excitedly.

“No way!” Gray objected again.

Natsu grinned mischievously. Before anyone could react, he struck Gray from behind, knocking him out instantly. He slung the unconscious Gray over his shoulder, oblivious to the perturbed faces around him and said, “There we go! We’re ready when you are, sir.”

“You sure we should bring him with us…?” Lucy whispered.

“We can’t let him go back and tell the guild.” Natsu’s face turned pale even though he wasn’t on the boat yet. “‘Cause the next person they’ll send is Erza!”

Lucy squealed in terror and they all started piling into the boat. Makoto bit the inside of his lip and resigned himself to his fate.

( _“Guess there’s no turning back now—Hmrpglghh!”_ ) Makoto almost lost his breakfast the moment he boarded the boat. He thought trains were bad—at least he could step in without throwing up instantly. ( _“Why did it have to be motion sickness?!”_ )

“I hate you guys so much…” Makoto mumbled as Lucy grabbed some spare ropes lying around the boat. She tied Gray up with them, as per Natsu’s request—because he was too busy being sick to do it himself. There was no telling what the Ice Make Wizard would do once he woke up.

Personally, Makoto felt tying him up was a bit much, but he wasn’t in any position to make a coherent argument.

The boat ride was long and slow. The sun had long since set and they still hadn’t arrived at the island yet. There was definitely no way they could’ve swum all the way to Galuna. Gray had woken up a while ago and was grumpily sitting on the boat. He tried getting himself out of his restraints earlier, but it didn’t budge, and so he settled with giving all of his guildmates occasional glances of annoyance.

The darkness and silence were beginning to unsettle Lucy. She whined, “Okay, now I’m scared…”

“Look on the bright side; at least you’re not tied up!” Gray yelled at her.

“At least your stomachs aren’t about to murder you…” Makoto mumbled.

“Aye…” Natsu agreed weakly. Maya frowned and sympathetically patted Makoto’s back.

“This is your fault too, buddy!” Gray yelled to the sailor who was taking them there. “Why’d you decide to let us on?!”

The man turned to face him. “The name is Bobo, and if you must know, I used to be a citizen of Galuna Island. But I had to flee. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I should warn you: tragedy befalls anyone who steps foot on the island. There’s no avoiding it. That is, unless you’re able to lift the curse.”

Bobo shifted his cloak and revealed his left arm, which had been obscured up until now. The Fairy Tail wizards recoiled as they took in the demonic appearance of his arm. “This vile demon’s curse…”

“Whoa… Your arm…” Gray whispered. “What happened to it?”

“Is that… the curse…?” Lucy asked.

Bobo remained silent. He looked up at the horizon and they all spotted the silhouette of an island in the distance. “We’re almost there. That’s Galuna Island.”

Maya blinked as she noticed something odd about the island. “Why’s the mountain lighting up like a star?” When she received no answer she turned around and then screamed, “AHH! Mister Demon Arm is gone!”

“Did he fall out?!” Gray questioned, scanning the surface of the water. There was no sign of him anywhere.

Makoto blinked blearily as the water began rising up the side of the boat. He glanced up and his eyes widened considerably. “G-Guys…! Turn around…!”

Everyone turned in alarm and saw exactly what he was talking about—a massive, towering wave that threatened to send them to the bottom of the ocean.

“Everyone, hold onto the boat!” Gray yelled as the wave crashed down over them. Makoto strained to hold on to the edge of the boat, but the force was too great and sent them all into the sea.

* * *

 

Makoto groaned as he awoke to the painful feeling of all his limbs aching. When his eyes opened the sky above him was still black. The moon had vanished behind the clouds for now, so he couldn’t tell whether it was higher in the sky than before, and therefore whether it was the same night or not. Pulling himself into a sitting position, he took in his surroundings.

He and his friends had washed up on a beach, presumably on Galuna Island, with the destroyed remains of their boat partially ashore and partially scattered in the ocean. Everyone was waking up and gradually coming to their senses again.

“Looks like we made it, you guys!” Natsu cheered, predictably oblivious to the fact that they were stranded.

“We’re lucky that wave washed us ashore,” Lucy noted.

“Perhaps, but it’s _unlucky_ that it destroyed our boat since now we have no way to get back to the mainland,” Makoto pointed out.

Lucy folded her arms and said, “I can’t help but wonder what happened to the guy that brought us here. Right after he told us about the curse, he vanished.”

“Forget about that stuff for now!” Natsu yelled, looking around excitedly. “Let’s go exploring!”

“Aye!” Happy cheered.

“We’ve been here for like, thirty seconds and you guys have already forgotten about the mission?” Lucy asked incredulously.

“Not to mention that it’s still night right now,” Makoto sighed. “Did that request notice say anything about a village or town we could head to?”

Lucy dug the wet request sheet from her pocket and smoothed it out to read it. “Apparently, there’s only one village on the entire island. The village chief is the one who originally posted the request, so we need to find him. There’s a map on here as well with directions to the village.”

“Not so fast!” Everyone turned to look at Gray, who had gotten free of his bonds during the storm.

“Give it up, Gray!” Natsu groaned. “You can’t bring us back to the guild now that our boat’s been destroyed.”

“That’s right. I’m coming with you,” he announced. Lucy and Natsu’s eyes widened.

“You certainly changed your mind quick, yup yup,” Maya commented.

“There’s no way I’m going to let the three of you clowns make S-Class before I do,” Gray said. “And if you were kicked out, the guild would be pretty boring. Gramps will be upset, but if we pull this off he won’t stay mad at us for long.”

“I feel like this has been poorly planned by everyone involved,” Makoto mumbled to himself. He raised his voice with a smile and said, “Well, there’s no going back, so we might as well get this S-Class quest started.”

All of the Fairy Tail wizards grinned in anticipation. “Let’s go!” Gray shouted.

“Aye!” everyone replied.

The directions took some time to get their head around since they washed up on a random beach, but once they got on track they quickly arrived at the village gates within an hour. Makoto was taken aback by the appearance of it. The gates were large and imposing, made solely from sharpened logs tied together and were at least several meters tall. A long fence of the same height spread out from the gate, also made of sharpened logs. Presumably, it went around the entire perimeter of the village. ‘KEEP OUT’ was written very clearly on the gate.

“Well, we found the village,” Gray noted unnecessarily.

“Looks more like a fortress to me,” Makoto remarked.

“Check out that gate,” Natsu said. “When they say keep out, they mean it.”

“Anyone home?!” Lucy called loudly. “We came here to help you!”

They waited for a response of any kind for a moment. Another moment went by.

“Let’s bust in,” Natsu suggested a little too eagerly.

“Let’s not,” Makoto sighed. By now, he was used to the pyro’s destructive tendencies. Now if only there was a way to control it. Then they might get more money from their regular jobs…

“Who goes there?!”

The wizards looked up at the top of the gates. Two figures could barely be seen peeking out from behind the logs. The villagers had finally noticed their arrival.

“We’re wizards from Fairy Tail, responding to your request!” Lucy announced.

“Why weren’t we notified when you accepted the job?!” the villager shouted.

That caught them off guard. There was the slight snag that they were taking the request without permission from the guild. What sort of excuse could they give? Luckily, Gray was on top of everything and called, “Sorry, it was probably just a mix up with the paperwork!”

Both of the guards remained pretty unconvinced. One demanded, “Then let me see your emblems, right now!”

That was much easier to answer. They all complied, showing off the marks that proved them to be members of Fairy Tail.

“They’re here… They’re really here…!”

A few minutes later, the gate was lifted off the ground with a loud rumbling. Waiting just in front of the gate was a large group: the villagers of Galuna Island. The Fairy Tail wizards walked through the gate once it had come to a stop. Of course, Happy had to comment on its appearance.

“It’s like we’re walking into a giant monster’s mouth!”

“Are you _trying_ to freak me out?” Lucy hissed at him as they approached the throng of villagers. Those two arguing was about as predictable as Natsu and Gray getting into a fight. What _did_ strike Makoto as odd was that all of the villagers were covered up in shawls and cloaks, leaving no part of their appearances visible.

Despite that, it was easy to tell which one of them was the chief they were looking for. He was the short man at the front of the crowd, holding a staff with some kind of moon ornament carved from stone on top.

“I’m Moka, the village chief,” he introduced, his voice muffled by the cloak. “On behalf of everyone here I welcome you. Pleasantries aside, there’s something you need to see. Now, my people!”

Makoto’s eyes widened at what was revealed when the cloaks fell away. Arms, legs, chests, stomachs, faces, mouths… All of the villagers had at least some part of their body grotesquely transformed, whether it was covered in scales, sprouted horns, even grown a full tail. Everyone, from kids to adults to teenagers—no one was left unaffected.

Gray grimaced. “It’s just like that guy on the boat…”

“Oh wow, your sideburns!” Natsu’s priorities were elsewhere, it seemed. He gaped at the chief, whose sideburns were longer than even Lucy’s hair. Makoto wasn’t a violent person, but part of him wanted to smack Natsu for his obliviousness.

“Not that! I was trying to show you what happened to my arm!” Moka waved his scaly blue arm around as he talked. “Everyone on the island has suffered horrible disfigurement because of this curse. Not even the animals have been spared.”

“Please excuse me for asking, but what makes you think it’s a curse, sir?” Gray spoke up. “It could be some kind of infectious disease.”

“We’ve consulted with dozens of doctors, young man, but they all agree no such disease exists!” Moka replied. “You see, our symptoms began around the same time the moon fell under an evil spell.”

“What kind of spell?” Lucy inquired.

“Since ancient times, this island has absorbed the light of the moon, causing it to glow almost as beautifully as the moon itself.” Moka’s face grew grave as he continued, “However, several years ago, the moon’s color began to change, and an eerie purple glow was cast upon the island.”

“So the moon turned purple?” Natsu asked.

Happy glanced up and gasped, “It’s coming out from behind the clouds…” Everyone looked up and watched the clouds in the sky drift over. The moon shone brightly like it usually did, but it instead glowed with an unnatural purple hue.

( _“It really is purple…”_ ) Makoto blinked in a stupor. ( _“But why only on the island…? I don’t think it was purple on the boat. N-Not that I was paying attention much, but…”_ )

“It’s the curse…” Moka moaned as the purple moonlight shone down on the village. “Stand back. The change is about to begin.”

What Makoto saw then would be burned into his memory forever.

All at once, all of the villagers began screaming, clutching their heads in agony. Their bodies changed right in front of his eyes. Their skin toughened and changed color to form scales or become leather-like. Faces were reconstructed entirely and long horns grew. Their fingernails lengthened to claws while teeth sharpened to fangs.

And before long, all that stood before the Fairy Tail wizards were demons.

Makoto’s jaw dropped. “What… What the heck is happening…?”

“I’m sorry if our appearance frightens you…” Moka said quietly once the transformation was over.

“N-No, that’s not it,” he assured quickly. “Sorry, I was just… surprised.”

“And completely confused,” Gray added.

“You poor people…” Lucy murmured sympathetically.

“Oh man, you guys…” Natsu muttered quietly before he gained a glint in his eyes and he grinned. “Look so cool!”

Everyone was silent.

_“Huh?”_

“It’s _awesome!”_ Natsu gushed, oblivious to the disbelieving looks from everyone around him. “You’ve got _horns_ and stuff! I’m so jealous!”

The villagers stared at him and then exchanged uncertain glances.

“He thinks we look cool…?”

“Nobody’s ever said that to us before…”

“Natsu wants horns?” Maya tilted her head, actually giving it some thought. “It could suit him, yup yup.”

“Natsu!” The pink-haired wizard blinked as he suddenly found Lucy glaring in his face. “You’re being insensitive. They don’t want to look like this!”

“Seriously?” he questioned honestly. He gave a laugh. “My bad. I guess we should help them out.”

“Obviously, Natsu,” Makoto said, giving his cheek an embarrassed scratch.

“That _is_ why we’re here,” Happy pointed out.

Gray sighed. “Get a clue, man…”

“Anyway,” the chief said, getting them back on track. “As you’ve witnessed, whenever the purple moon shows its face in the sky everyone in the village takes on a horrific demon form. If it isn’t a curse, then what else could it possibly be?!”

The villagers sobbed as tears ran down their scaled faces. Makoto felt all his remaining surprise replaced by an aching feeling in his heart. What did it matter what they looked like? They were suffering terribly and their despair was clear.

“We’ll return to normal once the morning comes and the sun has risen. However,” Moka’s face dropped and his voice grew somber. “There are some poor souls who can no longer switch back to their human form for they have lost their minds. The fate for them, these unfortunate souls in the grip of madness… We’ve no choice but to put them to death.”

The wizards gasped. “But they might change back to normal someday!” Natsu argued.

“If we wait for that to happen, the monsters will surely kill us all!” Moka reasoned. “We’ve tried capturing them, but they always broke free.” His voice cracked as he spoke. “It’s no use. Once it takes hold, there’s no way to save them. I should know; I was forced to kill my very own son.”

He took out a picture and the wizards couldn’t hold back their shocked reactions at Moka’s son’s appearance. He was identical to the sailor who brought them to Galuna Island—Bobo.

“That’s the guy from the boat,” Lucy gasped. “But we just saw him yesterday, he—”

Gray hushed her before they could overhear her. “Now I understand why he disappeared on us like that. He’s dead, but his soul can’t rest in peace.”

Moka bowed down his head. “Please lift this evil curse from our island. If this goes on much longer, we may all fall victim to it. We’ll _die.”_

“We’re not gonna let that happen!”

The chief looked up to a serious Natsu, his dark eyes shining with determination. “We’ll fix this, I promise you.”

Makoto nodded in agreement. He was only there to make sure Natsu didn’t mess things up to begin with, but now all his doubts about joining in on the quest had vanished. Makoto would do everything in his power to help the villagers of Galuna.

“There’s only one way this wretched curse can be lifted.” Moka lifted his staff and pointed straight upwards, the wizards’ eyes following it to the bright rock hanging above them. “The moon… The moon must be _wiped from the sky!”_

* * *

 

“I never knew the moon could be so creepy,” Happy said as he stood by the open window, gazing up at the harsh purple glow of the moon.

“Hurry and close the window!” Lucy shouted at him as she paused in her rummaging through her bag. “You heard what the chief said! We gotta stay out of the moonlight. You may not care, but I don’t want to risk turning into some freaky-looking monster!”

They were all settling in for the night, staying in an empty house in the village. It was too dangerous for them to stay out at night, with the purple moon in full view, so they would sleep for the night and get on with the job in the morning. Speaking of said job…

“I’m not so sure about this job, guys,” Natsu said.

“Do these people really think we can destroy the moon?” Gray asked.

“I wonder how many punches it’ll take,” Natsu predictably said. “You think I can handle it?”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” Gray relaxed a little and added, “Don’t be stupid, man.”

“Natsu, there’s not a wizard alive who’s strong enough to do that,” Lucy sighed.

“But that’s the job we were hired to do, isn’t it?” Natsu said. “We can’t take a job and then back out, ‘cause that would make Fairy Tail look bad.”

“Sure, but destroying the moon would cause a lot of problems for other people as well,” Makoto pointed out, speaking up for the first time in a while. “A lot of the things we take for granted are because of the moon, like the tides and even the seasons. Things could get seriously out of whack if we do that.”

“You’ve been quiet for a while,” Maya noted.

“Just thinking about the whole situation and trying to sort out the info,” he explained. And he was still trying to wrap his head around the whole ‘demon curse’ thing. It was shocking and bizarre to him, but he had to keep reminding himself that Earthland evidently didn’t play by the same rules he was used to. “There’s still something that’s bugging me about this curse, though.”

“And what’s that?” Lucy asked.

“I can’t say much about what it might mean,” Makoto admitted. “But I have my suspicions about the moon’s connection. Back in Magnolia, we know for a fact that the moon is still white and shining and _not_ turning all of the people into demons. Surely if the curse was due to the _moon,_ it would affect more than just the citizens of Galuna Island.”

“But they said the curse started when the moon turned purple!” Natsu argued. “So it can’t be unrelated!”

“I never said it was.” Makoto shook his head. “But it’s all still just a theory. We need more information.”

“How do you think you’re going to get to the moon anyway?” Gray asked the pyro.

“With Happy.”

“Ah—I don’t think so,” Happy said disbelievingly at Natsu’s simple answer.

“Okay, we can’t destroy the moon,” Lucy said. “But Makoto’s got a point. If we do some investigating, we might be able to find a different way to lift the curse from the island.” She flinched as something struck her face, and looked over to see Gray already in his underwear.

“You kids can do what you want, but after the day I’ve had, I need some shuteye.” He finished by pulling off his sock. Lucy sweatdropped.

“Please don’t take off any more.”

“Okay, our investigation starts tomorrow morning!” Natsu declared and then flopped himself onto the bed laid out. “I’m hitting the sack!”

“Me too!” Happy added.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Gray said as his head hit the pillow.

“Okay then. I’m pretty sleepy too…” She rubbed at her eyes. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight…” Makoto mumbled. Maya was already fast asleep. He wished he could fall asleep that fast. Between the snores from Natsu and Gray as well as any nightmares that could come his way, he was doubtful he’d get much sleep anyway.

* * *

 

Makoto stepped out of the house into the fresh air, stretching in the morning sunlight. As he’d expected, the majority of the night had been spent awake due to snores. It was a good idea to catch up on some sleep with the others gone. His extended nap wasn’t the greatest, but at least he wasn’t plagued by nightmares again. For now.

He caught sight of one of the villagers passing by and jogged over to him. “Good morning!” he greeted cheerfully.

“Oh, you’re still here?” the man greeted with surprise. He seemed to have forgone a shirt, dressed in only baggy white trousers. His face was covered in a thick, bristly beard. The demon curse left him with large white horns protruding from the edges of his forehead. “Your guild friends left the village a while ago.”

“I know,” Makoto nodded to him. They’d left soon after daybreak and the sun was currently almost above them. Makoto guessed it was probably around eleven in the morning. “They’re going to investigate the rest of the island for any clues. I decided to stay back in the village to ask around here.”

“I just wanna nap,” Maya commented blearily, spread out on Makoto’s head. “They’re so noisyyy…”

The villager frowned. “But didn’t the chief ask you to destroy the moon? What point would there be to looking around the island?”

And there was the big question. Explaining their decision to the villagers would be difficult. They might assume they’d given up on lifting the curse, which couldn’t be further from the truth. They just wanted to go about it a different way than what was suggested to them.

Makoto bit his lip. There was no use in remaining silent. “To be honest… Destroying the moon is a last resort. The moon’s responsible for a lot of things in our world. Getting rid of it could seriously mess with life as we know it.”

( _“Not to mention, it’s pretty much impossible.”_ )

“So we’re trying to figure out what’s causing the curse to begin with,” he continued. “If we know that, we’re a lot closer to understanding how the curse works and, most importantly, the best way to stop it.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “So you’re just doing things your way?”

Makoto chuckled nervously. “Heh, uh… I guess you could say it’s what Fairy Tail does.”

The villager frowned again. He looked around for anyone close enough to listen in, leaned towards Makoto and—to his surprise—muttered, "I’ll admit, I gotta agree with you, kid.”

“You… do?”

“The chief’s plan is a little… _crazy,”_ he reluctantly admitted. “But you gotta understand, we’re all desperate. After three years of this nightmare, the village is falling apart at the seams. We’ve lost a lot of friends, family, and the chief lost his own son on top of that…”

“Of course. To watch your friends die around you and being unable to do anything about it…” Makoto paused and took a deep breath. “No one should have to go through something like that. We _want_ to help. But we _also_ don’t want it to have to be at the expense of the rest of the world. That’s why we need to investigate to find a better option.”

“I understand, kid. Do you need to talk to the chief?”

“Yeah,” Makoto nodded. “I want to ask him some questions and see if it’s okay to do the same with the other villagers.”

“I’m sure you’re free to talk to the others, but I’ll take you to him if you’d like,” the man offered.

He beamed. “Thank you, sir!”

“Call me Tano.”

* * *

 

On another part of the island, Natsu dug himself out of a pile of rubble. He gasped for breath and looked around rapidly. “Hey! Is everybody okay?!”

“I’d be better if you hadn’t _knocked out the floor,”_ Lucy furiously said.

“Here’s a thought: if you think before you act, maybe you wouldn’t cause so much destruction!” Gray shouted.

Their scolding over, the three wizards glanced up. The cave they were in stretched upwards almost endlessly, if it wasn’t for the small circle of light at the top that led back into the temple. While they were exploring the island, they’d found themselves under attack from a giant blue rat. They hid away inside an old temple, which turned out to have lots of references to the moon. The building had clearly been neglected a fair bit, as even the floors didn’t look stable.

Add Natsu into the mix, and the wizards were experiencing the end result.

“So, can you fly us out of here, Happy?”

“No,” he answered Lucy quietly. “Sorry.”

“We’re underneath the temple,” Gray said, surprised that there was anything beneath them, let alone a cave.

“Wow! It’s a secret cave!” Natsu cheered as he happily ran off down one of the tunnels. “This is so cool! Let’s go check it out!”

“WOULD YOU QUIT RUNNING AROUND LIKE A _CRAZY PERSON?!”_ Gray yelled. Reluctantly, they followed after the excitable Fire Wizard. They almost lost track of him as he turned the corner, but when they followed they saw him standing at the entrance of a large and open chamber.

“Natsu?” Lucy called.

“What? Something wrong?” Gray inquired.

“Hey, guys?” Natsu said. “What’s that?”

They walked further into the chamber—and both froze when they saw what Natsu was referring to.

The only—and most notable—thing in the chamber was a giant block of ice, reaching a height of at least ten stories, and that wasn’t counting the ice beneath the ledge they stood on. But the more important aspect was what was _inside_ the ice. It was a monster as large as the ice was, with sharp claws, teeth, and a ferocious snarl frozen on its terrifying face.

“That’s impossible…” Gray whispered, trembling in fear. “It’s Deliora… But how…? How could this happen? Why is it here? _What the hell is it doing on Galuna Island?!”_

“You’ve seen this thing before?” Natsu questioned.

“There’s no… no way…” he breathed.

“Gray, try to calm down,” Lucy murmured as she placed a hand on his shoulder. In response, he took a few deep, shuddering breaths. The blonde waited a moment before she added, “Can you tell us about it?”

“…It’s Deliora,” he answered after a pause. “The demon of destruction.”

“Demon of construction?”

 _“De_ struction,” Happy corrected the Dragon Slayer.

“But why is it… _here?”_ Gray asked. “It doesn’t make any _sense!”_

The Fairy Tail wizards were interrupted when the sound of footsteps echoed around them. They quickly rushed for cover behind a pile of rocks nearby as two men exited the tunnel they’d just come from. One had blue hair that defied gravity and stood upright, as well as massive eyebrows. The other had dog ears and a flat muzzle, wearing nothing but a pair of trousers.

“The voices seem to come from down here,” the one with massive eyebrows said. His companion growled. The eyebrow guy sighed. “I hate being awake during the day.” The other guy growled again in agreement.

Grinning at his friend’s silence, the eyebrow guy said, “So Toby, were you exposed to the Moon Drip? You’ve got those pointy ears.”

That finally got a reaction from the dog man. He exploded and yelled, “I ALREADY TOLD YOU, THEY’RE A FASHION STATEMENT, YOU JERK!”

“Lighten up, I was just teasing you.”

“You don’t have to be so mean about it…” the dog, Toby, mumbled.

“The Moon Drip…” Lucy whispered to herself from her hiding spot. “Could that be the name of the curse…?” Her attention shifted immediately at another pair of footsteps.

“Yuka, Toby.” The two men turned to face their new companion: a pink-haired pigtailed girl wearing a black dress with two long feathers trailing behind her. “Something terrible has happened.”

“What now, Sherry?” Yuka, the one with eyebrows, asked in an irritated tone.

“It’s Angelica,” Sherry replied. “She’s been attacked and I’m sad.”

“You’re moping around because someone beat up your stupid pet rat?!” Toby yelled.

“She’s not a rat!” Sherry argued while keeping her soft speaking tone. “She’s a brave hunter prowling the jungle to protect us. She is… _love.”_

“I don’t know who these people are, but talk about a bunch of weirdos,” Lucy murmured. “Especially the chick with the pet rat.”

“Judging by the scent I picked up off ‘em, they’re not from the island,” Natsu commented.

“And they don’t look like they have the demon curse,” Happy added. They quieted down quickly as the strange trio began speaking again.

“Intruders, you say?”

Sherry sighed after Yuka spoke. “And it’s almost time to begin collecting moonlight again. Oh, this makes me so sad. This news would displease the Cold Emperor. We should get rid of them before he finds out. Yes… We must find them before the moon’s first light.”

“Agreed,” Yuka said with a sinister grin. Toby grunted.

“Since they’ve seen Deliora, we can’t allow them to live,” Sherry continued. “We’ll give them the gift of eternal rest. We’ll give them… _love.”_

“You’re talking about death, right?” a confused Toby asked. They all turned when the sound of rocks clattering echoed around the cavern.

“What was that?”

“Over there.” They all ran down the tunnel, heading towards the source of the sound.

Once they were gone, the Fairy Tail wizards stood up from their hiding place. Lucy gave a flying Happy a smile. “Nice job, cat.”

“Aye.”

“Come on,” Natsu complained. “We should’ve grabbed them and beat some answers out of ‘em.”

“Not yet,” Lucy said. “We’ve gotta do some investigating.”

The Dragon Slayer sighed. “Man… This job keeps getting more and more complicated.”

“Right?” Happy said. “Like who’s this ‘Cold Emperor’ guy?”

“Deliora…” Gray muttered. “I still don’t understand what anyone would want with it. And how the hell were they even able to find it?”

“Was it hidden somewhere?” Lucy asked.

“…It was sealed away,” he answered after a moment. “Inside a glacier on the Northern Continent. A decade ago, this immortal demon ravaged Isvan. Countless people lost their lives. The woman who taught me how to use my magic—my master, Ur—sacrificed _everything_ to seal it away.”

He clenched his fist tighter and an icy mist began forming around it. “I don’t know if it has anything to do with the curse on this island, but I _do_ know that it doesn’t belong here. This _‘Cold Emperor’…_ We have to find out who it is!”

Gray gritted his teeth, his anger clear on his face.

“If they tarnish my master’s legacy, they’re gonna regret the day they were born!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey look, a new chapter.
> 
> AND OHMYGOD THE ANIME COMES OUT IN LITERALLY IN A WEEK’S TIME. SEVEN DAYS (or is it eight for the subs…?). THE HYPE IS SO REAL.
> 
> And of course, summer is here so hopefully this means more time I can dedicate to writing these chapters! We’ll see how well this works out.
> 
> Also Happy 4th of July to you Americans out there! (Or anyone else who celebrates it idk)
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	12. Moon Drip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu and the others discover more about the demon in the temple. Meanwhile, back in the village, Makoto begins his first investigation in Earthland.

The island of Galuna held many mysteries and secrets: an ominous, purple moon; a curse that changed the inhabitants into demons; a strange temple dedicated to the moon. But the last thing anyone would have expected the island to hide was a network of tunnels and caves beneath the island, housing a true monstrous demon, eternally frozen in a block of ice.

 _“Deliora…”_ Gray growled.

Natsu crossed his arms. “You sure this is the demon your master sealed away?”

“No doubt about it,” he hissed. He’d seen the demon up close and personal more than once. There was no way he’d mistake something else for it.

“I wonder why it was transported from the Northern Continent all the way to Galuna Island,” Happy pondered aloud.

A thought suddenly occurred to Lucy and she said, “You don’t think this demon has something to do with the island’s curse, do you?”

Gray gritted his teeth. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. It may be enclosed in ice, but that thing’s still alive.”

“Sweet!” Natsu cheered. He held his shoulder and spun his arm around, prepping for a fight. “Give me a go at it! I ain’t afraid of some stupid demon!”

“You know, brute force isn’t the only way to solve a problem, Natsu,” Lucy pointed out.

“A little fire ought to do the trick—Oofhgh!”

Natsu yelled out as something crashed into his face and knocked him to the ground. He grunted as he lifted himself up and saw Gray, glaring at him with an unfamiliar expression of rage.

Happy gasped in surprise. “Gray punched Natsu!”

“Well, this wouldn’t be the first time he’s done that,” Lucy dryly commented.

“What’s the deal?!” Natsu demanded, holding his cheek. “What’d you hit me for, Gray?!”

“I don’t want you or your flames anywhere _near it!”_ Gray snarled. Natsu’s face grew more serious as the Ice Wizard continued, “If that ice melts and Deliora is revived… There’s no way we’d be able to stop it.”

“Come on, do you really think a huge chunk of ice would be that easy to melt?” Natsu questioned as he got to his feet. Gray made a quiet noise of surprise before looking down at the ground.

“…No.”

Lucy walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, are you okay?” she asked.

“Hey, _I’m_ the one who got hit for no good reason! Watch your temper, man!”

“Please, you’re one to talk,” Happy told Natsu with a knowing grin.

Gray took a breath. “Many years ago, my master Ur cast a spell called Iced Shell on this demon, enclosing it in a form of ice that can’t be melted. It’s so strong that even the most powerful flame spells have no effect on it.” He looked back up to the frozen demon. “If they knew the ice couldn’t be melted, why’d they bring it here?”

“Well, maybe they _didn’t_ know,” Lucy guessed. “They might have brought it here to try and melt it somehow.”

“But why would they do that?!” Gray shouted.

She raised her hands defensively. “Um, I have _no_ idea.”

The wizard, realizing that he was snapping at his friends way too much, paused for a moment to calm down. “I just don’t get it. Who would bring Deliora here, and more importantly, _why?”_

“We need answers,” Natsu finally decided. “Let’s go find those guys.”

Lucy nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

“No.”

They both turned at Gray’s loud objection. “We’re going to stay here and wait,” he said.

“Wait for what?” Happy inquired.

“For the moon to come out.”

“The _moon?!”_ Natsu repeated incredulously. “But it’s the middle of the afternoon! Forget that! If I have to hang out here all day, I’ll die of boredom.”

Ignoring the Dragon Slayer, Lucy asked, “Gray, why does the moon matter?”

“I have a feeling the curse on this island and Deliora are somehow connected to each other. It can’t be a coincidence that it’s here when these villagers are facing their curse problem. And like you said earlier; the island of the moon, the moon curse, the moon temple—that can’t be coincidence either.” He turned to face her. “Besides, those guys from before said something about collecting moonlight.”

“You have a point,” Lucy conceded. “I guess waiting until nightfall is the only way we’re gonna find out what’s going on.”

 _“I’M NOT WAITING!”_ Natsu declared angrily. “WE GOT WORK TO DO!”

Not five minutes later, the Dragon Slayer was out like a light, snoring away peacefully on the cavern floor.

“Well, that was fast.”

“Aye.”

“Must be nice,” Lucy mused as she sat on a rock near Natsu. “He doesn’t have to worry about anything other than eating, fighting, and sleeping.”

“That’s Natsu for ya,” Happy said in response.

“I gotta admit, I’m a little bit jealous.”

Lucy opened her eyes and glanced over to the other side of the ledge. Gray sat on a rock far from everyone else, seemingly lost in thought. She felt worried about her guildmate—having his past unexpectedly thrust in his face must be taking its toll.

She was right in her assessment. The appearance of Deliora brought memories of the past, ones that Gray hadn’t remembered or looked back on in a long time. They were all he was able to think about at the moment, the memories of his childhood. Memories of learning his Maker Magic with his teacher.

…

_The snowfall was soft and light, but that didn’t do anything to stop the cold biting at Gray’s prepubescent body. The exhaustion of having to walk for ages up a mountain in shin-deep snow wasn’t helping matters._

_The woman in front of him, without even turning to look at him panting for breath, asked, “Are you going to be able to keep up, Gray?” Ur turned and smiled at him. “I warned you. Training with me can be tough.”_

_Gray took a few more breaths before giving her a determined look. “Yeah… But I’ll do whatever it takes!”_

…

Lucy stared at the back of his head for a little longer before turning back to look at Natsu. Gray wasn’t the only one of her friends she was worried about. She hadn’t brought it up with him, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Makoto’s argument with Laxus. He seemed okay yesterday, and he even looked fine when he returned to the guild hall the night before, but it still bothered her. Her roommate’s patience was matched only by his kindness and optimism, which was why it was so shocking to watch his outburst. In fact, if she wasn’t there to see it herself, she would’ve doubted that it ever happened.

The blonde let out a long sigh. “I know I agreed to wait but this is so boring…” She suddenly clapped and yelled, “Oh, I know!”

She unclipped one of her silver keys from her keyring and held it out in front of her. _“Open, Gate of the Harp Constellation! Lyra!”_

The spirit that appeared was a young girl with strawberry blonde hair, wearing a blue dress, a pink bonnet, and carrying a large blue harp. “Oh, wow! I haven’t seen you in forever, Lucy!”

“Hey, Lyra,” she greeted with a smile.

“Say, how come you never call me anymore?” Lyra demanded. “It’s not fair! I would _love_ to help you out, but you ignore me, meanie.”

“‘Meanie’, huh?” Lucy echoed in a tired tone. “You’re the one who told me you’re only available three days a month.”

Lyra gaped in shock. “Ah?! Are you sure about that…?”

“Great, another weirdo,” Happy commented to himself.

“So what would you like to hear me sing?” Lyra asked, moving on to the reason behind her summoning. “Any requests?”

“Nope! Whatever you want,” Lucy replied.

“Do you know any songs about fish?!” the blue cat asked eagerly.

“‘Kay, I got a song I think you’re gonna love, Lucy!” Lyra declared.

“Lyra has the most beautiful singing voice,” Lucy explained to Happy.

Happy pouted. “Well, Mira’s a singer too, you know. And _she_ sings songs about fish for me.”

His argument was cut off by the sounds of Lyra’s harp. She plucked each of them with careful precision, weaving together a beautiful melody that echoed around the cavern. Happy gasped in surprise before letting out a content sigh, getting lost in the music.

_“Words are born into air, and quickly fade out in the wind…”_

* * *

 

Back in the village, Tano was leading Makoto to where Moka would most likely be. Apparently, there was one place in the village where you could always find him. In retrospect, it became obvious to Makoto where the chief would spend his time. And lo and behold, the old man was sitting right where they expected.

“Chief Moka.” Moka turned at Tano’s voice and stood up from the grave. Tano gestured to the wizard beside him and said, “Makoto here would like to ask something of you.”

“Good morning, sir,” Makoto greeted with a smile. Being friendly and polite would hopefully make the whole affair a lot simpler. “I was wondering if it would be all right to ask some of the villagers some questions, as well as yourself.”

“Questions? What for?” the chief asked.

“To find out more about the curse,” Makoto explained. “When it started, what you did about it… Basically, anything that could help us understand it and the situation better.”

The old man frowned in response. “But I already told you what you need to do! Destroy the moon!”

“Please understand, it’s just not possible to—”

“What are you saying?! ‘Not possible’?!” Moka interrupted incredulously. “That’s the job you were hired to do!”

“Believe me, we want to help! But we hardly know anything about this curse,” he reasoned. “There’s a chance that the moon isn’t even responsible for it.”

“It’s only when the moon is out that we experience these transformations! How could it _not_ be responsible?”

“I’m only saying it’s a possibility, but while that possibility exists, we can’t jump the gun and destroy the moon. There’ll be countless consequences to the whole of Earthland if we do something major like that.”

“I have an obligation to my village first and foremost!” the chief shouted. “If there is a chance we can return to normal, we must take it!”

( _“Keep calm and be patient, Makoto,”_ ) he thought to himself. He took a deep breath to help organize his thoughts. ( _“Yelling won’t help matters in the slightest.”_ )

“But you realize that destroying the moon will cause problems for your village too, right?” Makoto pointed out.

That caught Moka’s attention. “What do you mean…?”

Makoto bent down and picked up a rock, small enough to fit snugly in his hand. “Look, let’s say this is the moon, and we hypothetically have some kind of method we can use to blow it up.” His grip tightened until the rock cracked and broke apart from the pressure. A few pieces slipped out from the gaps in his fist and fell to the ground.

“See? It’s not completely gone and the fragments fall towards gravity—or in our case, towards Earthland.”

Moka’s brow furrowed further. “What are you getting at?”

“The moon is _massive._ These meteors are going to be huge and cause lots of damage. They could potentially be big enough to completely wipe out the island.”

Moka froze.

“There’s a chance it’ll break the curse, but you need to acknowledge that it could also destroy this place with it,” Makoto continued.

The chief gritted his teeth, staring dejectedly at the ground. “Then what are we supposed to do…?!”

“Keep hoping. Have faith in Fairy Tail,” Makoto told him. “We’ll find the best way to break the curse and get things back to the way they used to be, Chief. But we need time and information in order to do that. Can you help us?”

“Chief,” Tano spoke up. “What the kid says makes sense. Maybe we should give him a chance to do what he wants.”

The old man continued to stare at the ground, his hand clenched around his staff. It was hard for Makoto to tell what he was thinking and whether he’d finally gotten through to the chief.

Eventually, Moka looked up and said, “You wanted to ask questions? Go ahead. I give my permission.”

Makoto beamed and Maya gave a little shout of joy. “Thank you for understanding, sir!”

For a moment there, Makoto was worried that he wouldn’t be able to get through to Moka. He got why the chief was so stubborn, but he was just a bit too single-minded to see that there were other courses of action available to them.

“So what do you wish to ask me?” the chief inquired.

“Oh, right.” Finally focusing on the important situation, Makoto thought hard about where exactly he should start. “Well, the beginning sounds like a good starting point. When exactly was it that the curse began?”

“Three years ago, just about,” Moka answered. “One night, the moon started glowing purple without warning. And since then, we’ve been forced into these demon forms every time the moon shows itself.”

“Okay…” Makoto crossed his arms. “Did anything else happen around that time? Anything that seemed strange?”

Moka and Tano quickly exchanged glances before the latter shook his head. “N-Nothing really comes to mind…”

Makoto blinked. Now that certainly looked suspicious. Before he could say anything, Maya beat him to the punch. “Oh! What about the mountaintop? We could see it glowing from our boat last night, yup yup!”

Makoto smiled approvingly at the cat. ( _“If she hadn’t said anything, I might’ve completely forgotten about it.”_ )

“Oh yes, the mountain…” Moka repeated nervously. “There’s a temple at the highest point of the island, but truth be told, we could never figure out why that happened. And come to think of it, it started just before the moon turned purple.”

( _“So we have a temple that started glowing at the same time this all began,”_ ) Makoto thought. ( _“Natsu and the others are looking around the island, so they might be able to find the temple. I’ll leave that to them.”_ )

“What did you do after the curse started?” he then asked.

“As I said before, we talked to some doctors to see if they could figure out what was wrong.” Moka shook his head sadly. “They said it wasn’t a disease.”

Makoto paused again as he tried to think of what to ask next. ( _“Actually, I want to know more about that Bobo guy. Gray thought that he was a ghost. I don’t know about how normal ghosts are in Earthland, but I don’t think I’m inclined to believe that so easily.”_ )

Makoto frowned to himself. ( _“Problem is, it’s definitely a sensitive subject with the chief… But I need to know more about it. Gah, I wish Kyoko was here. She’d be much better at this than me.”_ ) His face brightened after a moment at that thought. ( _“Maybe I just need to approach this like Kyoko would.”_ )

“So how long did it take for people to lose their minds?”

Moka’s face darkened. “The first one to be affected was Bobo.”

( _“Oh.”_ )

“It didn’t happen immediately… Though thinking back, he wasn’t really acting the same after the curse began.” Moka looked to the ground, small beads of tears appearing at the corners of his eyes.

Luckily for Makoto, Tano picked up the recount from there. “It probably happened about a week after the curse started. Bobo just lost it one day. He wouldn’t change back into human form and kept yelling that we were all demons. We didn’t know what he would do, so we tried locking him in his house.” A humorless smile appeared on his face. “‘Course, we took our eyes off him for just a moment and he escaped through a giant hole in the back wall.”

“But you found him again, right?”

“In a manner of speaking.” At Makoto’s confused expression, he elaborated, “Well, no matter how many times we’d catch him, he’d always escape and then just come straight back to the village.”

“And then eventually you…”

“Yeah.” Tano’s expression dimmed. “It wasn’t our finest hour… But we were scared. We didn’t know what else to do.”

“How exactly did you do it?”

Makoto’s brain finally caught up with exactly what was being said in the conversation. Only when he looked up to the horrified and shocked faces of Moka, Tano, and Maya did he realize he’d spoken aloud.

His face quickly went pale.

“O-Oh my god, I am _so sorry!”_ He bowed his head, eyes squeezed shut in mortification. “That was completely out of line, I—Oh god, I’m so sorry.”

“I-It’s okay, kid,” Tano tried to assure him. “Just… caught us off guard. Didn’t think you’d ask that.”

( _“Neither did I. Note to self: Kyoko’s interrogation methods don’t work for you. Don’t use them.”_ ) “I’m sorry…!” Makoto squeaked out and covered his face with his hands.

Tano let out a sigh. “Do you need to know the answer?”

Makoto lowered his hands and looked away. “If… If it’s not an issue…”

Tano sent a glance towards Moka, who seemed to be reliving a memory, and leaned in close to Makoto’s ear. “Stabbed. Right in the heart.”

Makoto’s heart sank. “I’m sorry this had to happen to you,” he mumbled.

( _“I thought maybe Bobo had somehow survived his ‘execution’ and went into hiding, but… Could someone really have survived being stabbed through the heart? I don’t think so…”_ ) Makoto bit his lip. It still didn’t explain how he had met someone who looked like Bobo and had the same name as Bobo. He even had a demon arm, so he must’ve come from Galuna Island, which basically proved they were one and the same.

( _“This kinda reminds me of Hifumi,”_ ) Makoto recalled. ( _“But in this case, the villagers killed Bobo themselves instead of just seeing his dead body. Could they have even mistaken him for being dead?”_ )

“Is there anything else you need to ask?” Tano inquired.

Makoto looked at him and then glanced over at a silent Moka. “It’d probably be best if I left the chief alone for the moment,” Makoto admitted. “I might go ask some of the other villagers some questions in the meantime.”

Tano nodded. “I’ll look after the chief. You need anything, you can come ask me.”

“Thanks, Tano.” Makoto waved him farewell and left the two of them with Bobo’s grave.

* * *

 

Natsu, Gray, and Lucy raced up the temple steps, finally being greeted by the night sky outside. The plateau before them held the answer to what was responsible for stirring them from their slumber, as well as the source of the purple light shining on Deliora. In the middle of the stone ruins stood a circle of cloaked people, chanting something in a mysterious language. Shining down in the middle of their circle was a pillar of purple light, concentrated by various magic circles, leading straight back to the large moon hanging in the sky.

“The moon…” Gray mumbled. They crouched down behind a broken stone wall nearby to watch.

“It looks like those robed freaks are chanting some spell to collect the moonlight,” Natsu said.

“And shine it on Deliora,” Lucy added. “But what for…?”

“It’s a Bellianese spell called the Moon Drip.”

 _“What are you still doing here?!”_ Lucy hissed in surprise when she realized Lyra was still with them. Ignoring her wizard’s shock, the spirit mumbled, “I see… So that’s what they’re doing.”

“Okay, tease. Fill us in,” Lucy insisted.

“They’re using the Moon Drip spell to melt the ice surrounding that demon underground so they can resurrect it,” she explained.

“What…?!” Natsu mumbled, but his whisper was drowned out by Gray’s own disbelief.

“They can’t!” he argued a little too loudly. “The ice used in an Iced Shell can’t be melted!”

“I hate to say it, but that’s not entirely true,” Lyra said. “While the Iced Shell is strong, it _can_ be melted using Moon Drip. Focused moon energy can break just about any magical spell.”

“Idiots!” Gray shouted. “They’ve never witnessed the wrath of Deliora!”

Lyra watched him carefully for a moment. “I think what the islanders believe to be a curse against them may actually be side effects of the Moon Drip,” she theorized. “Concentrated moon energy can contaminate your body. I’m afraid those islanders have been exposed to way too much of it.”

Natsu growled. “I’ll make them pay!”

“Hold it!”

“Daarhgh!” Natsu flinched as Lucy’s elbow crashed into his nose and he fell backward. “Someone’s coming this way,” the blonde said.

Approaching the cloaked crowd was a small group of four. Three of them the wizards recognized as the ones from the cavern: Sherry, Toby, and Yuka. The one leading them was a complete stranger, though. Dressed in a long white cloak, armored boots, and an intricate helmet with a resemblance to Deliora’s face that hid everything but the man’s mouth, there was really only one person it could be.

From the back of the group, Yuka grumbled. “What a waste. I lost so much precious sleep for nothing. We searched all day for the intruders, but never found a trace of them.”

“MAYBE THERE WASN’T ANY!” Toby shouted.

They stopped a short distance from the Moon Drip ceremony. “I’m afraid I have some sad news, Cold Emperor,” Sherry addressed the masked person. “We thought we had intruders during the day, but it seems they got away somehow. I cannot speak of love in this situation.”

“Intruders?”

Gray inhaled sharply at the voice from the stranger. Natsu narrowed his eyes. “So that guy’s their leader.”

“He’s trying to act all high and mighty, wearing that stupid looking mask,” Lucy whispered.

“I dunno, I think it looks kinda cool,” Happy commented.

“Has Deliora been awakened yet?” the Cold Emperor inquired.

“It should be later tonight or tomorrow,” Sherry reported.

“WHICH ONE IS IT, GIRL?!” Toby yelled.

“The time has almost come,” he continued, ignoring the dog man. “If you see those intruders again, kill them. I don’t want anyone getting in my way.”

“They must’ve been villagers,” Sherry remarked. “They’re the only other people on this island.”

“Then destroy the village!” the Cold Emperor declared, sweeping his arm out to the side.

“Yes, sir!”

“Understood.”

From behind their cover, the wizards froze. “But the villagers didn’t have anything to do with this!” Lucy protested.

“Yeah,” Natsu agreed with a frown. “We gotta stop them.”

The Cold Emperor smirked. “It’s a shame there has to be bloodshed.”

Gray was frozen in place, shaking minutely. Hearing the masked man speak more kept driving him to a realization he didn’t want to accept. “That voice… No… It can’t be—!”

“I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS SNEAKING AROUND BUSINESS!” Natsu suddenly shouted and jumped on top of the crumbled wall. He took in a deep breath and then let out a giant explosion of flames. “IT’S NOT THE VILLAGERS—WE’RE THE INTRUDERS YOU’RE AFTER!”

There was no way anyone could miss a declaration like that. The Cold Emperor and his group turned in surprise. Noticing that he had gotten the attention he desired, Natsu grinned broadly.

“Geez,” Lucy sighed in annoyance, grabbing her keys in preparation. “Guess there’s no turning back now, huh?”

“I wanna help out too!” Lyra chirped, reverting back to her more excitable personality. “Want me to sing?!”

“No, I want you to go back,” the Celestial Wizard flatly replied.

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Lyra complained lightheartedly before disappearing in a flash of light.

Sherry’s eyes widened as she spotted the red tattoo on Natsu’s shoulder. “I know that mark. They’re from Fairy Tail!”

“Interesting,” Yuka hummed. “Those villagers must have gone to the magical guilds for help.”

“Don’t worry about them,” the Cold Emperor said dismissively. “Go eradicate the village.”

The command shocked not only the Fairy Tail wizards—even his lackeys turned to him in surprise. “But why?!” Natsu demanded.

“Anyone who stands in my way, whether deliberately or not, is my enemy,” he stated.

Natsu growled and started running for him, but he was quickly overtaken by a furious Gray. “Stop this crazy ceremony _right now!”_ He punched one fist into his open hand and then slammed his palms into the ground. His magic generated huge spikes of ice at an incredible rate, converging straight towards the Cold Emperor’s position.

His reflexes were sharp, though. He pulled back his own hand and pressed it to the ground—surprising everyone when more ice formed in the exact same way. Both ice attacks moved closer until they finally collided, shattering and sending small crystals flying through the air.

“He’s an Ice Wizard too?!” Happy gasped.

Gray stood back up, crouched in a battle-ready position. _“Lyon!”_

Natsu and Lucy’s eyes widened. “Lyon…?” Gray _knew_ this person?

“How _could you?!”_ Gray continued furiously. “Do you have _any_ idea what you’re doing?!”

“Oh, Gray,” was his casual reply. “It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?”

“Why would you revive Deliora?!” Gray shouted.

“To think that you were one of the wizards called to this island to help those poor villagers,” Lyon spoke, ignoring his question. “Did you come knowing you’d find me? Or is this just mere coincidence? Not that it makes any difference to me.”

“An acquaintance of yours, Cold Emperor?” Yuka inquired.

“Do as you were ordered!” he said. “I can handle the intruders on my own.”

“Yes sir!” they all chorused and ran in the opposite direction.

Natsu shouted in surprise and almost tripped in his rush to catch up to them. “Get back here!”

“No, Natsu!” Gray yelled. “Don’t go near him!”

Lyon held out one hand, mist gathering around it as he cast a spell. Natsu stopped and yelled in surprise as ice formed rapidly around his body.

“Natsu!” Lucy yelled in concern.

Realizing there was still danger, Gray shouted, “Happy, get Lucy out of here!”

“Aye!”

“Wait!” Lucy tried to protest but Happy had already picked her up by her shirt. Acting quickly as a distraction, Gray fired a stream of ice towards Lyon. He conjured up a shield to protect himself, leaving Gray’s spell to shatter to pieces before it ever reached him.

“Argh! I can’t move!” Natsu complained once the ice had stopped growing. He was encased in a ball of it, with only his head and the ends of his arms and legs sticking out. There was no way he could move in his condition, let alone fight.

* * *

 

“Happy, we can’t just leave Natsu like that!” Lucy objected while Happy flew away as fast as he could.

“He was hit with a type of Ice Magic that instantly freezes the air,” the cat argued. “If we had stuck around there any longer, we probably would have been frozen too!”

“Who cares?!” Lucy said. “We gotta save him!”

She paused as she heard a sniff from Happy and he said, “But who’s going to warn the village and Makoto and Maya if we’ve all been turned into ice?!”

“Oh, I’m sorry Happy,” she said quietly. “It must have been hard for you to leave him behind.” She adopted a smile and clenched her fists. “Don’t you worry, I’m sure he’ll be fine! Ice is no match for the Salamander, right?”

“Aye!”

* * *

 

“You distracted me long enough for the girl and the cat to escape,” Lyon remarked. “Chivalrous but ultimately pointless. There’s no way those two can stop my minions.”

“Don’t underestimate the power of Fairy Tail wizards!” Natsu shouted. “It’s not just them anyway; they’ve got someone to back them up. Now, time to fight—Aarhghg!”

The Dragon Slayer yelled in surprise as Gray kicked him, easily losing his balance and leaving Natsu to roll down the hill. “What’s the big idea, Gray…?!” he shouted in outrage as he tumbled away, his voice eventually fading in the distance.

Gray ignored his shouts and faced Lyon, who was regarding him with an amused smile. “I see you’re as reckless as ever. Was he not one of your allies?”

“You and I both know that with one spell, you could blow up that ice and him with it,” Gray retorted.

“So you chose to send him safely outside the range of my magic,” Lyon said. “That was a very clever move.”

Gray’s brows furrowed in anger. “I don’t understand why you’re trying to pull this superior act with me, Lyon! You’re not! We’re not Ur’s students anymore!”

“I’m well aware of that,” he replied. He pulled off his helmet, letting his snow white hair rustle in the wind. _“Painfully_ aware. Our beloved teacher is no longer of this world.”

“Her final act was sealing that monster away,” Gray said. “Are you really so callous that you would try and destroy our master’s legacy?!”

“Don’t delude yourself. We both know you’re the one who killed Ur.”

Gray recoiled from the accusation. Lyon kept his straight face as he stared at his old friend. “And yet, you don’t seem to feel any guilt. How cruel.”

* * *

 

Out at sea, a large vessel sliced through the waves at an impressive speed, aided by the strong wind. The pirate flag flapped wildly in the air. And standing at the wheel of the ship was the captain, directing his ship towards a certain cursed island—but not of his own volition.

He turned to the person standing behind him and asked nervously, “W-Why do you want to go to Galuna Island? It’s _scary!”_

“Just shut up and steer.”

He flinched and returned to his job. Around on the deck, the other pirates were finally coming to. They rubbed their heads and stared at the one who’d knocked them out in a surprise attack.

“If you drop us off somewhere, you can have the boat!” the pirate captain bargained. “Please! I’m beggin’ ya, lady! I’ve heard that island is _cursed_ and anyone who steps foot on its soil turns into a demon!”

“I will take that chance.”

“But… why do you have to go _there?!”_ he questioned.

Erza Scarlet glared at him. “When rules are broken, the guilty must be punished. And that is all I can tell you.”

“She’s so _cool!”_ one of the pirates gushed.

“And hot too!”

“We don’t like rulebreakers either!”

“We’ll help you catch them if you want.”

Erza placed her hands on her hips. “Sure. Now let’s hurry.”

“I want to join your team, too!” the captain declared eagerly. “I’ll brave that scary island for you! Come on, ya scallywags! Raise the sails and set course for the cursed island of Galuna!”

Erza looked out into the horizon as the pirates set to work around her. The last thing she expected to happen after she returned from her previous mission was to hear that a certain group of wizards had taken an S-Class quest and not returned yet.

Her eyes narrowed. She’d make sure they would.

* * *

 

“One last thing. Nobody else lives on the island?”

“No, it’s always just been us. If anyone _does_ live elsewhere on the island, they’ve never come down to the village, and we’ve never seen anything that suggests anyone else being here.”

“All right, thanks!” Makoto nodded gratefully to the demon-turned villager before he walked away and headed down the torch-lit village pathways. He looked to his right where Maya shivered on his shoulder. “You okay, Maya?”

“I dunno,” she said once she’d stopped shaking. She sounded much more awake than she had that morning, at the very least. “Maybe it’s just cold, yup yup. But hey, what was the point of asking everyone the same questions, Mackie? You sound like a parrot.”

“If you get multiple people saying the same thing, it’s more likely they’re all remembering the event the same way. It’s more reliable,” Makoto explained. “Plus, we could run into someone that has something extra to add on.”

“Oh, that makes sense, yup yup.” Maya was quiet for all of two seconds before she said, “I can’t believe you really asked that, Mackie.”

“Huh?”

“In front of the chief and Mister Tano.”

His face went red as he understood what Maya was referring to. “O-Oh, yeah, um… I-It didn’t really come out the way I’d intended. I was trying to think of what a friend of mine would say, but I guess I forgot that she can be rather… blunt sometimes.”

“A friend? You mean like…” Maya paused and looked around. She leaned towards him and stage-whispered, “Like from the other side?”

Makoto smiled at her strange wording. “If you mean where I’m from, then yes.”

“What’s she like?”

He blinked at her. “You want to know?”

“Of course!” Maya chirped. “Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, yup yup!”

He looked around to see if any villagers were nearby before nodding. “Okay then. What sort of things do you want to know?”

“Start with her name, silly!” she yelled.

“Okay,” he laughed. “Her name’s Kyoko. Kyoko Kirigiri. She’s my age and she has lavender hair and purple eyes.”

“Huh…”

“What? Did you not like my description?”

“No, not that,” Maya said. “I just realized I don’t actually know how old you are.”

“U-Uh…” Makoto stammered. “Come to think of it…”

“What do you mean, ‘come to think of it’? It’s your age,” she said.

Makoto rubbed his head. No sense in hiding it, then. “To be honest, I ended up losing a chunk of my memory a while ago.”

Maya gasped. “That’s awful! How’d it happen?”

He stared at her. “You really expect me to remember how I lost my memory?”

“Point.”

The truth was he didn’t want to talk about it more than he needed to. It could lead to the topic of what happened at Hope’s Peak, and that was something he wanted to avoid at all costs. “But I guess I’m technically nineteen, though I still only feel seventeen. If anyone asks, say I’m seventeen.”

“Technically nineteen?” Maya looked at him doubtfully. “You sure? You’re like Lucy’s height.”

He tried desperately to ignore the faint blush on his face. “I’m just short, okay?”

Maya placed her paws over her mouth, but he could still see the smile and hear the giggles. “Touchy subject. Got it, yup yup.”

“Anyway,” Makoto said, getting the conversation back on track. “I’m pretty sure Kyoko and I are best friends; at least, that’s how I see it.”

“Doesn’t she see your friendship the same way?”

“She tends to keep her feelings to herself,” he admitted with a tired but amused smile. “She doesn’t talk much about herself. Actually, Kyoko doesn’t really talk much to people in general. She seems quite introverted.”

“Intro—what?”

“Not a social butterfly, unlike someone I know,” he explained, poking Maya in the stomach. She giggled and batted at his finger. “But she’s smart. Incredibly smart. She’s always one step ahead of me and I don’t know how she does it.”

“But you’re plenty smart, Mackie!” she argued. “You figured out the sickle man’s plan back in Oshibana, and I know you’ll figure out why the villagers are demons, too!”

“Do you even remember Erigor’s name…?” Makoto laughed and scratched his cheek. “But if it wasn’t for the things Kyoko taught me, I’m not sure how well I would be doing at working out the mystery of the curse. See, she’s a detective.”

“A what?”

Makoto frowned in confusion. “You don’t have detectives here?”

“I dunno,” she shrugged. “Tell me what it is, I might know anyway.”

“She solves crimes and mysteries and stuff,” he said. He tried to think of an example, but the first thing that came to mind was murder and that wasn’t really something he wanted to bring up. “Like if someone stole a chair or a table from a furniture shop, she’d come in and figure out who the thief was.”

“That sounds kinda like the army or Magic Council,” Maya noted. “Or maybe even guild wizards.”

“We don’t have wizards where I come from, remember?” Makoto spoke quietly in case anyone was around. “And I’m fairly certain our armies work a little differently… We have groups of people separate from the army called the police. There tends to be a group for each city, I think, and detective is one of the ranks.”

“And Kyoko works for the police?”

“Uh… Actually, I’m pretty sure she works freelance.”

“That sounds really cool!” Maya exclaimed with a grin. “So she catches all the bad guys?”

“I’m not sure if she makes the actual arrests herself,” he admitted. “But yeah, she finds out who committed the crime.”

“She sounds amazing!” Maya cheered and flew into the air, too excited to sit still. “When can I meet her? I really wanna, yup yup!”

Makoto’s smile faded from his face at that. Noticing this, Maya’s grin dropped as well and she flew in front of his face. “Is something wrong?”

“I just… I have no idea where she is…” Makoto sighed and sat down on a bench nearby. Maya flew down and landed on his lap. “Remember the day we met? Just before that, I was with her and some of my other friends in my world. I went to sleep and woke up in that forest, in Earthland, and I couldn’t find anyone nearby.” He slumped forward a bit. “I don’t even know if she or the others are even in Earthland.”

Maya frowned. “Have you tried looking?”

“Yeah, when we go on jobs to other towns. Natsu’s a little distracting, I’ll admit…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just that Fiore is a big place, and there are so many people here. Trying to find five specific people is a lot easier said than done. They might have even ended up somewhere other than Fiore, or like I said, not even come to Earthland at all.”

Maya reached out and patted his arm in a comforting manner. Makoto gave her a small smile and scratched her ear. “I’m fine. It’s just a little disheartening. I know I’ll see them again someday.”

“I hope I get to meet them,” Maya said quietly but with a hint of excitement. “If they’re friends of yours, I know they’ll be great, yup yup.”

His smile became more nervous as he thought of some of his friends ‘quirks’. “Ah… Yeah, I hope it’ll be okay.”

“So!” Maya stood up suddenly and clenched her paws in determination. “What’s our progress with the curse mystery?”

“Well…” Makoto hummed as he tried to sort and summarize everything he’d learned from the villagers’ accounts. “Three years ago, the moon turned purple. Around this time, the temple on the mountaintop also started glowing due to unknown reasons. Soon after, the villagers found themselves inflicted with a curse that would cause them to become demons when the moon is out. Occasionally though, some people would be unable to change back, believing themselves and everyone around them to be demons. Taking this as a sign of madness, the villagers tried to trap them and, eventually… were forced to kill them.”

“And the boat guy?”

“Yeah, I don’t even know where to begin with him,” Makoto admitted. “Are ghosts an actual proven thing here?”

“Uh… Don’t think so, nope.”

“Okay, how about this?” he suggested. “We go with the assumption that Bobo from the boat is the same person as the chief’s son, and he’s also alive.”

Maya rested her cheek on her paw in thought. “But the chief’s son was killed, right? The villagers did it.”

“Yeah… Going with our assumption means he somehow survived being stabbed in the heart while fooling everyone to think he was dead.” He buried his hands in his face. “And that’s where I’m stumped. He must’ve survived, but how did he do it…?”

“Hey, Makoto! Kid!”

Before he could give it any further thought, a voice broke through the quiet. Makoto and Maya looked up to see a red demon with a blue chest running over to him. He wondered if he’d met the demon before, but upon seeing the horns and the beard, the name occurred to him.

“Oh, Tano, right?” he asked as he stood up.

“Yep,” he nodded. It was definitely Tano; their voices were even the same. Makoto felt a strange sense of pride in being able to recognize his demon form. “There’s something flying towards the village. I think it’s one of your wizard friends and that other cat.”

Makoto looked up and, sure enough, there was a figure in the air coming closer to the village. “Happy and… Lucy?”

“Maybe they’re back from their investigation?” Maya offered.

Makoto’s mouth pulled into a thin line. “Yeah, but where’s Natsu and Gray?” He, Maya, and Tano made their way over to the center of the village, where there was already a crowd of demons gathered, waiting for the Fairy Tail wizard to land.

“Lucy!” The blonde turned towards her guildmate when he called out. His worry deepened when he saw the panicked expression she wore. “What happened? Did you find something?”

“We’ve got a serious problem!” she shouted.

* * *

 

“Enough with the games, Gray. You’re the one who murdered Ur, so just admit it,” Lyon said. “I’m surprised you have the gall to even _speak her name!”_ He held out his hand and before Gray could even react, a large spiked ball crashed into his body. Gray grunted in pain as he collided with a stone wall and it crumbled from the impact.

“Lyon…”

“What’s wrong?” he questioned. “Don’t tell me the guilt is finally getting to you. I’m warning you, don’t try to interfere! Whether you like it or not, I’m resurrecting Deliora.”

“I won’t let you!” Gray growled.

Lyon smiled coldly and dropped his helmet. “It’s just like old times, but I’ve grown much stronger since then. _Ice Make: Eagle!”_ Countless small birds made out of ice rocketed straight towards Gray.

 _“Ice Make: Shield!”_ The flower of ice stood strong in front of him—but what he least expected was for the birds to change course, fly around the shield, and hit him from all angles. “ARGH!”

“You specialize in Static Ice Make Magic, while my Active Ice Make Magic allows me to make living creatures.” Lyon smirked. “Did you forget my ice has the ability to _move?”_

Gray jumped out of the way as jagged spikes of ice jutted out of the ground at his feet. Putting his hands together, Gray yelled, _“Ice Make: Hammer!”_ A giant ice hammer formed in front of him and he swung it down towards Lyon.

In response, he lazily pointed his finger upwards and said, _“Ice Make: Ape!”_ The two creations collided, shattering to pieces. Lyon sneered as Gray landed on the ground. “How pathetic. You still use two hands when casting your Ice Make spells.”

“Yeah, ‘cause that’s what Ur taught us,” he fired back. “Singlehanded spellcasting is incomplete and unbalanced.”

“Well I’m the exception to that rule,” Lyon stated. “I surpassed Ur’s skill level a long time ago.”

 _“Shut your mouth,”_ Gray snarled.

“Regardless, ever since we were children you’ve never been able to land a single hit on me.”

The Fairy Tail wizard furiously made motions with his hands and then pulled them back. “I’m a lot stronger than I used to be! _Ice Make: Geyser!”_

Lyon looked on unimpressed as ice surrounded him, growing and growing until it formed a massive tower. As the fight stretched on and grew more intense, it disrupted the cloaked figures doing the ceremony. They were sent screaming for cover as fragments of ice rained down upon them.

Gray’s jaw dropped when the tower of ice shattered, obscuring his vision with a fog of crystals. When it disappeared, all it revealed was an uninjured Lyon.

“Nothing has changed,” Lyon remarked with amusement coating his voice. “I was always the superior student, and I’m still stronger than you. I was able to master singlehanded Ice Make Magic, while you still have to rely on two hands. It’s just like the old days. We may have chosen different paths, but we’re frozen in time. Our rankings as wizards never change.”

He held his hand up to the sky, his magic activating once more. Gray couldn’t move fast enough to avoid the massive ice dragon that formed beneath him, tossing him high into the air.

“That’s why I’m resurrecting Deliora,” Lyon said when his opponent crashed back down to the ground. “To prove that I am more than just Ur’s star pupil. As a child, I only ever dreamt of one thing: the day I would surpass Ur’s abilities as a wizard. But you _ruined_ it for me, Gray. After she died, I thought my lifelong dream of surpassing her had been dashed.”

Gray struggled to pull himself to his feet. “Until I realized there was one way,” Lyon continued. “If I can defeat Deliora—a demon so strong that not even Ur could vanquish it—then I will have surpassed her power. My dream will finally become a reality!”

“Listen to me!” Gray said as he stood. “That thing destroyed everything we cared about! And you want to bring it back just to prove how strong you are?! That’s _insane!_ Please, you can’t do this!”

Lyon’s face warped into an expression of anger and several ice snakes attacked Gray from below. “‘Please, you can’t do this’? _Really?!”_ He sent ice creation after ice creation at Gray, battering him constantly with no break. “Funny you say that. Those were the _exact_ words we said to you that fateful day! Surely you haven’t forgotten…”

He threw his hand forward and shouted, “It’s because you challenged Deliora that Ur lost her life!”

Gray yelled out in pain as Lyon created another ice dragon, tossing him around and slamming into him again and again. “I can’t stand you even speaking her name in my presence! Begone! This is the end, Gray!”

Gray slammed into the ground one final time, unable to move from the beating he’d received. The last thing he saw was Lyon’s furious face before the world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO TODAY'S A SPECIAL DAY
> 
> On this day, July 21, exactly one year ago, the word document that housed the original Fairy Tail’s Ultimate Hope draft was first created. SO YEAH THAT’S RIGHT FTUH TURNS ONE TODAY WOOO
> 
> As a quick little celebratory thing, Idk whether people look at the comments, but basically I'm confirming Naegiri for this story. Not that it would be much of a surprise to anyone who’s seen my tumblr whoops :P
> 
> Speaking of my tumblr, there's a celebratory post I made, it's got a special FTUH-related drawing, you guys should check it out!
> 
> Okay onto some slightly more serious stuff.
> 
> Writing this story for you guys has been incredible so far, when I first posted it I never expected so many people to read it. According to the word count this story has reached about 94600-ish wHICH IS INSANE BECAUSE THAT’S ONE CHAPTER AWAY FROM 100 000 HOLY SHIT.
> 
> This story would not have seen this much progress if it hadn’t been for you guys, and I’m not just being sappy or whatev. Every review encourage me, occasionally I'll be stuck with writer's block and then out of nowhere I get an email about a comment/review and BAM instant motivation. So yeah I read everything. Every single time I get an email notification about a new comment/kudo/whatever, I smile. Every time. Without fail. It makes me unbelievably happy to see people get excited about this story and the direction it’s going and there are loads of people on fanfiction at least that say this is their favourite story and they reread it and I still doubt it because there’s always this part of a creator’s mind that goes “there’s no way it’s this good”. But thanks, it’s really sweet to know.
> 
> SO ANYWAY ALL THAT SAPPY STUFF IS OVER THANKS GUYS HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS ONE
> 
> now i need to go cry in the corner from the trainwreck that is the dr3 anime T_T
> 
> (also still no spoilers pls)
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	13. Close, Gate of the Golden Bull

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start to heat up as the Fairy Tail wizard's priorities shift from breaking the curse to protecting the villagers from the Cold Emperor and his people.

 

Snow and pain.

Those were the first things on Gray’s mind when he finally came to. He had no idea how long he’d been out for, exactly. His body ached and his wounds stung. The chill from the stones beneath him seeped through his clothes and spread throughout him. Cold, but not unbearable. It had been a long time since he’d felt uncomfortable from the cold.

…

_“What’s the matter? Don’t tell me you’re giving up that easily.”_

…

A snowflake, no doubt left over from the intense ice duel from earlier, drifted softly to the ground in front of him. He could see it in his mind’s eye: a time when he’d been in a similar situation. It was a long time ago, but it was as clear as crystal—as if it had only happened the other day. Exhausted and drained, lying on the cold ground.

…

_“Get up, Gray.”_

…

If he imagined hard enough, he could hear her voice ringing in his ears. Goading him, encouraging him to stand once more, no matter how pained he felt.

“Get up, Gray.”

But reality crashed into him once again, the reality where he was lying on temple grounds and not a snow-covered mountain ten years prior; where the person telling him to stand on his feet wasn’t his beloved teacher, but his destructive guildmate.

“Man, you look rough,” Natsu grimaced, noting the numerous cuts and bruises that he could see. “He beat the snot out of ya, huh?”

“Natsu…” Gray murmured. He was too exhausted to think straight, and the pain in his ribs made it harder to breathe and speak. “What are… you doing here…?”

“I couldn’t remember how to get to the village, so I climbed back up to look for it,” he said, taking a look around. He leaned down, grasping Gray’s shirt and pulling him up. “I see it now. Come on, let’s go.”

“Wait, I can walk…” Gray protested. The pink-haired wizard complied, letting him climb to his feet as he kept his eye on the village in the distance. “Where’s Lyon…?”

“Dunno. By the time I made it back, everyone had vanished.” Without even needing to look, Natsu grabbed Gray’s shirt again, preventing him from collapsing to the ground. With a grunt of effort—especially because he couldn’t move as well with the ice surrounding him—Natsu heaved Gray’s limp body over his shoulders.

Natsu made sure he was secure and said, “Now hang on. We have to hurry and get back to the village before _they_ do. Lucy and Makoto might need backup.”

With that, Natsu put one foot in front of the other, shuffling slowly to make sure he didn’t drop his load. The appearance of his rival caused Gray to suddenly recall two certain events.

…

_“No way!” Ur argued, throwing her arm out in her anger. Lyon stood by her side, watching with wide eyes. “Deliora is out of your league, Gray! It’ll kill you! Don’t go!”_

…

_“I’m going on this S-Class quest and you can’t stop me!” Natsu shouted._

_Gray frowned in annoyance, leaning in close to his face. “Man, you’re way out of your league here. Just come home!”_

…

“I’m sorry…”

“Huh?”

Natsu looked up to the side where he knew Gray’s face was located. He bit his lip and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe in you…” Gray tried to fight them back, but tears slipped down his face regardless. “I’m no better…”

Natsu stopped in place, gritting his teeth, anger building, before he finally burst and roared, _“Quit feeling sorry for yourself because you lost a fight!”_

Gray froze, his eyes going wide with surprise.

“You’re a member of _Fairy Tail!”_ Natsu continued to shout. “And we don’t give up when times are tough. So just put it behind you and keep moving forward!”

Natsu started moving again. He’d wasted enough time trying to break the ice and then climbing all the way back up to the temple. The village could be under attack, right now, and he was just standing here! He broke off into a run, desperate to get there fast—except it was really more of an awkward jog. “Ah great, now it’s even _harder_ to run!”

* * *

 

“…And now they’re coming to attack the village!”

“Are you serious…?” Makoto mumbled involuntarily, even though he already knew there was no possible way Lucy would be joking about it. It just all sounded too bizarre. A frozen demon, an old spell to melt the ice, an acquaintance of Gray’s apparently being part of the group at the temple…

( _“That’s probably why the temple keeps glowing, but the villagers said they couldn’t find anything…”_ ) He quickly realized where that train of thought was heading and derailed it instantly. ( _“No, I can worry about the curse later! I’ve got to focus on protecting the village and everyone here.”_ )

“How many of them are there?” Maya asked worriedly.

“This guy—Lyon, or whatever—ordered three of them to come,” she replied. “When I left, the rest of his group were just continuing the ceremony.”

“I’m pretty sure all three are wizards,” Happy added, stood next to Maya on the ground. “We might be able to beat them, maybe.”

Lucy nodded. “Well, good luck, Makoto.”

“H-Huh?!” The brown-haired wizard took a step back in surprise. “What are you talking about?!”

“They’ve been performing the Moon Drip spell that’s responsible for the villagers’ condition,” she explained calmly. “So if we catch them, we could possibly get them to turn the villagers back.”

“Yeah, but last time I checked, you’re a wizard too!”

Lucy suddenly let out an excited squeal, clapping her hands together while mischief shone in her eyes. “I just had a _brilliant_ idea!”

“Nothing good can come of this,” Happy sighed.

“Have a little more faith in her,” Makoto told him. “So, what’s your plan?”

“We’d be happy to help any way we can,” Tano added, standing beside him.

Lucy shook her head and smiled confidently. “I’m the greatest Celestial Wizard Fairy Tail’s got! So why don’t you just leave it to me? You don’t have to worry; it’ll be a piece of cake.”

“Someone’s getting cocky,” Happy sighed.

Maya tilted her head. “Aren’t you Fairy Tail’s only Celestial Wizard?”

She quickly hushed them and grabbed one of the golden keys from her belt. _“Open, Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!”_

As usual, the spirit materialized quickly in a flash of starlight. The maid bowed and said, “Good evening, Princess.”

“Virgo, I’ve got something I’d like you to help me with.” Lucy wasted no time in giving her some instructions. Virgo was even quicker in carrying them out.

“What is everyone doing gathered outside?” Makoto turned around to see Moka approaching the collection of villagers, holding his staff and looking around with confusion.

“Oh, Chief,” the brown-haired wizard greeted. “There are some wizards who’ve been hiding out in the temple on the island, and they’re coming to attack the village. My friend Lucy is just setting up something to catch them.”

“Catch?” he echoed.

Makoto nodded. “We think they’re responsible for the curse, so we want to get information out of them.”

Moka stared at him for a long while, which started to make Makoto feel a little uncomfortable. Moka had allowed Makoto to carry out his investigation, but maybe he was beginning to regret that decision and enforce his original plan with the moon?

It didn’t seem like that would be the case, thankfully. Apparently satisfied, the chief trudged off, grumbling under his breath, “I wish they would destroy the moon and get it over with…”

Makoto gave a tired smile. ( _“At least he didn’t lose it… Maybe that means he does trust us to find another way.”_ )

“Princess, I have completed the task.”

“Great job, Virgo! My plan is going to work perfectly!”

“I’m not so sure.”

“What did you just say?!”

The Dragon Slayer turned as Lucy turned away from her spirit with a huff, Virgo staring at her blankly as always. “So what _is_ the plan, Lucy?” he asked as he approached.

“Pure genius, that’s what!” she declared with a thumbs up.

“Hey, Lucy?” Once he had her attention, Happy continued, “I hate to break it to you, but I think you might be… stupid.”

She stared at him with exasperation. “Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I just don’t think anyone’s going to fall for your trap because it’s the oldest trick in the book…” the blue cat admitted.

“Now, don’t be silly,” the blonde smirked, glancing over to the gate. A circular pile of leaves lay right in front of it. “A pitfall will get them every time.”

“But you can tell what it is by looking at it…”

“It doesn’t matter, ‘cause there’s only one way to get in the village,” Lucy pointed out. “So the enemy’s going to have to go over it if they want in.”

Happy sighed, “Well, I still don’t think there’s any way they’re going to fall for it.”

A villager nervously raised her hand. “Uh, me either.”

Tano pushed his fingers together. “I’m sorry, but I agree with them.”

“Yes, I have to concur.”

“Not you, too!” Lucy shouted disbelievingly when Virgo joined in on the discouragement. As a last-ditch attempt, she turned to Makoto. “What do you think?!”

“M-Me?” he stammered from being suddenly addressed. “I-I guess it could work…” He took another look at the very obvious, very conspicuous trap. Would Yasuhiro even fall for it if he was here? “But, uh… Couldn’t they just walk around it?”

She huffed and shot glares at all of them. “Go ahead and doubt me—you’ll see.”

“It looks like someone’s headed this way!”

Everyone looked up to the top of the gate where one of the villagers was keeping watch. Lucy grinned in anticipation. “That’s gotta be them… Open the gate!” The villager shouted back in understanding. The wooden gate rumbled open, sliding up to reveal the path to the village.

The last person they expected to see was Natsu, frozen in an ice block and carrying a limp Gray.

“Heyyy!” he called. “Are you okay?!”

“Natsu?!” Makoto, Maya, and Happy shouted in unison.

“Don’t come any closer!” Lucy yelled at him frantically. Even from a distance, they could see the look of confusion on his face. Not to mention, he wasn’t slowing down at all. “Natsu! _Stop! Please!”_

He finally understood to some degree and skidded to a halt—a foot in front of the pitfall. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. And then Natsu noticed the pile of leaves in front of him. “What’s with the grass…?”

Realizing what was about to happen, Makoto quickly shouted, “Wait Natsu don’t—!”

“UWAHHH!”

“…Never mind,” he sighed as Natsu fell through the flimsy cover of grass, kicking up dust that obscured the hole from view.

“He actually fell for it…” Tano mumbled.

“Yeah, I’m sorry we ever doubted you,” another villager said.

With Lucy still catatonic from shock, Makoto took it upon himself to peek into the hole, barely making out Natsu at the bottom of it. “You all right down there?!”

“Very funny, but this isn’t the time to play practical jokes on each other!” was the irritated response.

Happy shrugged. “Don’t talk to us, it was Lucy’s dumb idea.”

“I SHOULD’VE KNOWN!”

“It wasn’t a joke, it was a trap!” she insisted.

Happy’s expression quickly turned to relief. “I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried about you!”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Natsu replied before his expression dimmed. “But Gray’s down for the count.”

Makoto’s eyes widened. “He’s hurt?”

“The guy in the mask beat him up that badly?” Lucy asked.

Natsu blinked and looked down at his body. “Hey, the ice is gone!” he realized. “It must’ve cracked when I fell!”

“See?” Lucy laughed. “Told you the pitfall would work!”

Virgo turned to her. “Excuse me, Princess, but I believe the spell was actually broken when he left the caster’s range of magic.”

Regardless of how exactly it happened, the wizards now had a very excited Dragon Slayer at the bottom of a hole. “I’M FREE!”

Natsu was able to climb out of the hole by himself, but it was difficult for him to carry Gray at the same time. Maya and Happy worked together to bring their unconscious ally out of the hole. Makoto grimaced as he took in Gray’s battered appearance. Not only had this Lyon guy ordered the eradication of the village—full of people who didn’t even know the group was up there—but he’d also reduced Gray to such a state; someone he had a history with. No matter how many times he encountered it, it hurt to know there were people out there who cared so little of others.

“So how come Lyon’s lackeys haven’t made it here yet?” Natsu asked.

“You know, that’s a good question,” Lucy replied. She placed a hand on her chin. “They left for the village _before_ you, but you got here first. I wonder what’s taking them so long.”

“Yeah, and with Gray and that giant ice cube, I was pretty slow,” Natsu admitted.

“Whatever’s keeping them, it’s giving us more time to prepare,” Makoto spoke. “We should take advantage of that instead of just standing around, waiting for them to show up.”

Lucy clenched her fist. “Okay, guys! Hurry and cover up that hole!”

Natsu made an unimpressed face. “They’re not gonna fall for that.”

“You did,” Maya pointed out.

Tano suddenly cried out, “Over there!” and pointed up to the sky. Makoto squinted as he searched for what he’d spotted. He could barely make out a large, dark shape against the night sky, gradually coming closer to the village.

“It’s a giant flying rat!”

“And it’s carrying a bucket!”

 _“What?!”_ Lucy cried in outrage. “But now my pitfall trap is totally pointless!”

“Why… is there a giant flying rat in the sky?” Makoto asked, feeling clueless.

“We fought it earlier in the jungle. I’m pretty sure it belongs to one of those wizards from the temple.” Natsu’s face scrunched up as he glared up at the shape. “I don’t like the smell of that stuff it’s carrying.”

Makoto shifted his gaze to the bucket and watched as something glinted in the moonlight. It was a drop of whatever the bucket contained, falling down towards the village. As it got closer, Makoto picked up on the scent Natsu mentioned: a sharp smell that made his nose hairs sting and set off all sorts of warnings.

Lucy was right below it and looked up in confusion. “Jelly…?”

“Watch out!”

“Aah!”

Two things happened at once. Natsu sprang into action, tackling Lucy from the side and knocking her out of the way. The drop of jelly hit the ground instead of the girl. It reacted instantly, letting off tons of smoke with a loud hiss. When the smoke cleared, Makoto’s eyes widened to see a melted hole in the ground about the size of a football.

“Acid…” he muttered in horror.

“I knew the stuff was deadly,” Natsu frowned as Lucy whimpered from beneath him.

At once, everyone looked to the sky again and came to the same realization. Panic began to set in amongst the villagers and they all started screaming in panic.

“That big flying rat’s got a whole bucket _full of it!”_

“No! They’re gonna dump it right on us!”

Maya flew up and clung to Makoto’s shoulder. “Mackie, what are we gonna do?!”

“W-We’ve got to get everyone somewhere safe…”

He glanced back up. His eyes widened and he trailed off. There wouldn’t be any time for that. The rat swung the bucket around and released its contents into the open air. There was enough jelly to cover the entire village; there was nowhere safe they could reach in time.

“How are we gonna protect ourselves from acid jelly?!” Lucy screamed.

“I want everyone to get in the center of the village!”

Lucy turned in surprise as Natsu suddenly sprinted past her. “Ready to fly, Happy?” he called to his cat.

“Aye, sir!”

The blue cat grabbed onto his jacket and rocketed into the air, heading straight for the acid jelly. Makoto looked around and saw that no one around them was doing anything. “Everyone! You heard him!” he shouted, grabbing their attention. “Get moving! To the middle of the village! Go!”

The villagers finally got going, sprinting as if their lives depended on it—which they did. Makoto reached out and grabbed Lucy’s wrist and made sure Maya was secure. He glanced around, looking for Gray, but relaxed when he saw that some of the villagers had already grabbed him.

“Flames of my right hand, flames of my left hand… You put ‘em together…!” Up in the sky, Natsu set fire to both of his hands. He brought them together and combined the fire to form an even larger fireball. “You get _Fire Dragon’s Brilliant Flame!”_

The attack soared into the sky, a small ball of light that traveled towards the blanket of jelly. The result was predictably explosive, to say the least. The heat completely evaporated any of the jelly it came into immediate contact with, and the shockwave that followed pushed the jelly even further. With his single attack, Natsu had created a hole in the jelly right over the center of the village.

“Is everyone here?” Lucy asked, looking around. Makoto copied her, observing the people around them—

His blood ran cold.

“Where’s Maya?!” he yelled frantically. The cat was no longer sat on his shoulder. When had she gone missing? He made sure she was there when they started running—had she fallen off somewhere? How could he have not noticed?!

“Oh no! Chief!”

Makoto was distracted by the sudden call and spun around. He turned just in time to see a large droplet of jelly crash into the ground where Bobo’s grave was located—as well as Chief Moka. The area was obscured by thick steam and everyone watched it for several moments, frozen in horror.

Then a blue blur shot out from the curtain of smoke.

Makoto’s heart leaped into his throat. Moka was alive, but the Dragon Slayer was more concerned about the smaller shape with white wings attached to the chief’s back. “Maya!”

The tabby worked her wings harder than ever before, racing across the village pathways with record speed. More droplets of acid were raining down, and there was still the unavoidable mass above it. Maya swerved right and left, experiencing a few close calls when she refused to sacrifice her speed to better avoid the acid. Makoto understood that she needed that speed to reach safety before everything dissolved, but that didn’t prevent his heart stopping several times. Even as she reached her destination and slowed down near the group, Makoto’s heart refused to stop pounding.

Maya dropped off the chief near the villagers. They thanked her quickly before focusing on making sure Moka was all right. Maya hovered for a moment before she heard a furious shout of, _“Maya!”_ and froze.

Makoto marched over and stopped right in front of her. It was the second time Maya had ever seen Makoto this angry in the time she’d known him. “What were you thinking?! That was completely reckless! There’s a difference between being brave and being stupid, and what you did was absolutely, undeniably, very, very stupid!”

Maya curled up in shame, eyes avoiding Makoto’s hard gaze. It seemed as though she worked up some nerve, as after a while she finally looked him in the eye adamantly. “Someone had to save Mister Moka, yup yup! I couldn’t just leave him there to melt like a snowman!”

Makoto held her gaze before letting out a heavy sigh. For a moment, Maya was terrified that she could be in for a huge long lecture. She was surprised when Makoto instead reached out and gathered her in a tight hug. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

Maya’s wings disappeared as she snuggled into his chest and her tail wrapped around his arm.

Everyone waited in their safe area until the jelly finally stopped raining from the sky. Natsu had touched down a while ago, and once Makoto finished talking to Moka and Tano he approached his fellow Dragon Slayer. “Is everyone all right?”

“I think so,” Makoto nodded.

“No one got hurt?”

“The villagers are all just shaken.”

“Yeah…” Lucy mumbled. “The whole village was completely dissolved.”

Makoto looked around them. Where they were standing, the center of the village, was perfectly fine thanks to Natsu’s swift actions. The rest of the surrounding area, however, was completely destroyed by the acid. It had eaten through several meters of dirt as well, leaving their circle of safe land like an island in the sea.

The brown-haired boy squinted. He could barely make out a shape through the smoke, but… “Is that what I think it is?”

Moka overheard and looked in the same direction, his eyes widening. “Bobo’s grave… It’s still standing…!”

Three figures emerged from the steam, one lashing out to kick the rock from its rightful place. It fell to the ground with a loud echo that seemed to ring forever.

“The Cold Emperor ordered us to eradicate the village _and_ its people.” Sherry flicked one of her ponytails as she came to a halt, Toby and Yuka standing beside her. “We were trying to show mercy by making your deaths quick and painless… But since that didn’t work, we’ll have to resort to bloodshed.”

Natsu gasped. Makoto’s grip on Maya tightened. “That’s them?”

“Yeah…”

“Fifty villagers, three wizards…” Yuka mused. “Shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes.”

“You ready?” Natsu asked.

“Yeah,” Lucy replied. A hand rested near her keys and her whip.

“Definitely,” Makoto added, placing his cat on the ground.

Happy pumped his paw in the air. “Count again, ‘cause there’s five of us!”

“Yup yup!” Maya cheered, feeling determined. “You better get ready to feel the pain when you mess with Fairy Tail!”

Moka clenched his fist tighter around his staff, his teeth grinding against each other. “How dare they… Such disrespect…!” He leaped towards the edge of the platform, waving his staff wildly. “THEY KICKED OVER BOBO’S GRAVE! IT WAS STILL STANDING AND THEY KICKED IT OVER! THAT’S ALL I HAVE LEFT! MY SON IS GONE AND ALL I HAVE TO REMIND ME OF HIM IS A GRAVESTONE!”

“J-Just calm down, Chief!” Tano shouted as he and two other villagers restrained the old man from doing anything drastic.

“We have to get out of here, sir!”

“Yeah, we don’t want to get caught in the middle of a magic battle!”

“I’M NOT GOING!”

Tano pointed in the opposite direction and instructed, “Hurry and get him to safety!”

“YOU MAY BE WIZARDS BUT I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU! PUT ME DOWN AND LET ME TEACH THEM A LESSON…!”

“Let me help you…”

Makoto and the other wizards whirled around. Gray was standing up, but he was breathing heavily and barely looked like he could keep himself upright.

“Gray, you came to!” Lucy said in surprise.

“Not gonna happen,” Natsu immediately said. “We don’t need your help.”

“I’m with Natsu,” Makoto agreed firmly. “You’re injured, Gray. Fighting like this is going to make you worse.”

“Natsu, Makoto… Don’t do this to me—Urgh!”

Makoto gasped in surprise when Natsu moved forward and punched Gray straight in the gut. “Just lie down and get some rest,” the pink-haired wizard said.

Gray grasped onto Natsu’s scarf, struggling to stay conscious long enough to glare at him. “S-Someday… I’ll…” The Ice Wizard slumped forward, unable to stay standing. Natsu held him upright without complaint. “…kill…”

Lucy looked on in concern. “But… why?”

“He’s giving Gray some tough love,” Happy replied. “Natsu knows he’s in no condition to fight, so he had to stop him.”

“That means… deep down, they really do care,” Lucy mumbled.

“Of course they do!” Maya huffed. “I said that before, but no one ever seems to listen to me.”

Tano approached the group of wizards and asked, “Can we leave this to you? We’d like to help, but we’d only get in the way.”

“That’s what we’re here for,” Natsu said. He shifted Gray in his arms and asked, “Could you take him, though?”

“No problem.” Tano reached over and slung Gray over his shoulder, supporting him with both hands. “There’s a safe place nearby that we can go to. We’ll take care of your friend. All right, let’s go.” His last words were directed at his fellow villagers, who all headed out at the command.

Sherry watched as the villagers made their way from the remains of their home. “We’re not leaving until every person in this village is dead. Angelica.”

The rat let out a squeak of understanding and jumped into the air. Her tail started spinning rapidly, keeping her in the air as she picked up her master and flew in the direction of the villagers. The Fairy Tail wizards braced themselves against the gust of wind as Angelica passed over them.

“We’re not gonna let you get away with this…!”

Makoto blinked as he noticed that Lucy’s voice was getting fainter and glanced around. She wasn’t anywhere next to them anymore. He looked over at the rat and paled. “Please tell me she didn’t…”

Lucy screamed in fear as she clutched tighter to the rat’s toe. “AH! I got excited and grabbed on!”

“Yep, she’s stupid,” Happy commented.

“More like insane!” Natsu added.

Maya huffed and folded her arms. “Natsu, you’re a bad influence on her.”

“Wha—How is this _my_ fault?!”

Lucy pounded her fist against the toe, trying to stop the rat in any way she could. “Leave the villagers alone! They didn’t do anything to deserve this!”

The sounds of Lucy’s shouting and her fist knocking on the toe grabbed Sherry’s attention. She turned towards the back of Angelica and wondered aloud, “What does she think she’s doing?”

A mischievous grin worked its way onto Lucy’s face and she scooted up the toe claw until she reached skin. “Are you ticklish?”

Sherry smirked. “Try all you want, it’s not going to work—Angelica?”

Her attention shifted when she noticed her rat had started laughing and twitching in place. The tickling sensation in her foot had distracted Angelica so much that her tail had stopped rotating. “You have to fight it!” Sherry yelled once she noticed the alarming fact. “Keep spinning your tail!”

Gravity inevitably took its hold and the rat plummeted back down to the island. “We’re going down!”

“All right, I did it!” Lucy cheered. She took a glance at the rapidly approaching ground and suddenly realized exactly what happened. “WHY DID I DO THAT?!”

The three crash-landed somewhere in the jungle a fair distance away from the village remains. Natsu, Makoto, and the cats all sweatdropped.

“Oh great,” Yuka muttered. “He’s going to be ticked.”

Toby turned and shouted, “I DON’T HAVE ANY TICKS!”

“I wasn’t talking about you.”

“Do you think she made it?” Natsu asked worriedly. “That big rat might’ve crushed her.”

“Lucy’s a toughie, yup yup!” Maya assured him. “She’ll be fine!”

Happy activated his wings. “I’ll go check on her.”

His partner nodded gratefully. “Thanks. Be careful.”

“I’m going to go catch up with the villagers,” Makoto said as Happy flew off.

“What for?” Natsu asked.

“I’ve just thought about it, but what if that Lyon guy has more people going after the villagers?” he brought up. “They might not be able to defend themselves, and Gray’s badly injured. I’d feel better if I looked after them just in case.”

Natsu thought for a moment and then nodded. “Right. I’m counting on ya.”

“Meet up with us as soon as you’re done here, all right?” Makoto said. He turned to Maya. “Let’s get going.”

“Yup yup!” Maya pulled out her own wings and picked up Makoto. The duo headed in the direction the villagers had left in.

Natsu turned back to his opponents, crouching in preparation. “Now, time to deal with these guys.” He pushed off, rocketing towards Toby and butting his head. While still in the air, Natsu flipped over and breathed fire at Yuka, hoping to catch him by surprise from the speed. He landed on his feet and turned to Yuka.

The fire dispersed to reveal the wizard with a crackling blue light in front of him. “A wizard who can breathe fire… I see. Don’t tell me you’re the Salamander from Fairy Tail I’ve heard so much about.”

Natsu didn’t respond, and instead shifted his gaze over to watch Toby get back to his feet.

“You know, we used to be members of a famous guild ourselves, so you shouldn’t blow us off,” Yuka warned as the blue energy faded. “In fact, Iron Rock Jura belonged to the same guild. Surely you’ve heard of Lamia Scale—”

He was interrupted when Natsu unleashed an inferno in both directions. Yuka protected himself with the same blue light from before, but Toby was not so lucky. He panicked for a few minutes, patting his head until he was sure the fire was out.

“Hey! Cut it out!” Yuka shouted. “Listen when I’m talking to you!”

“Why?” Natsu turned to him sharply. “You think I care what guild you’re from or who the other members are? We came here to help the villagers and _you’re_ the ones who put them in danger.” The Dragon Slayer clenched his fist. “Which makes you Fairy Tail’s enemy. And that gives me more than enough reason to fight you!”

Yuka furrowed his brows. “Hey Toby, just stay back. You don’t need to get involved. I’ve got this.” Toby let out a little growl but backed off a little.

Yuka pointed his fingers towards Natsu. A blue light gathered at the tips and the energy was launched towards him. _“Wave!”_

“I’ll tear that thing apart!” Natsu shouted, engulfing his hand in flames. Just before it hit, a shiver ran up Natsu’s spine and he abandoned his attack, opting to roll out of the way instead.

“Oops,” Yuka remarked. “Guess you weren’t ready for that.”

Natsu fired a breath attack at him, but Yuka waved his hand in front of him again. _“Wave!”_ The blue magic appeared again and the flames dispersed before they got close to hitting him. “The pulsing energy coming from my hand diffuses all types of magic,” he explained. “Which means none of your spells will work against me.”

Natsu brushed the back of his hand against his cheek. “I get it. Earlier, I felt I couldn’t break it with my fire.”

“I specialized in anti-wizard magic while I was with the Lamia Scale guild, and I’m sure you can understand why.” Yuka held his hands out and his magic glowed brilliantly. “No matter how strong they might be, all wizards are powerless against me! _Even you!”_

Natsu jumped out of the way as two balls of Wave Magic were fired at him. “Oh yeah?!” Natsu charged at him with a flaming fist. Yuka held out his hand once again and a shield formed in front of him. Natsu’s punch was halted the moment it came into contact with the barrier.

“Like I told you, your magic is useless against my Wave.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you off the hook!” Natsu drew back his other arm and curled his fingers into a fist. “I’ll just have to crush you without it!”

The Dragon Slayer punched forward at the magic barrier and his fist went in like a hot knife through butter. Even Yuka looked a little surprised. “Hey, look! I broke through it!” Natsu grinned at his achievement—until pain sparked up the length of his arm and he screamed.

“You put your bare arm inside a vortex of magic energy,” Yuka pointed out. “Not a smart move.”

Natsu gritted his teeth against the pain. He pushed against the barrier, forcing his head straight into it with a manic grin. Yuka jerked backward in shock. Toby gaped from the sidelines. “He’s pushing his whole body into the Wave!”

“Your magic’s no match for my brute strength!” Natsu laughed loudly. “So what are you gonna do now?!”

“He’s crazy, Yuka! Watch out!”

Yuka managed a smirk, even though it came out slightly unnerved. “You broke through my Wave, but now you’re stuck Salamander. Your flames aren’t going to work now that you’re inside.”

A glint appeared in Natsu’s eyes. “But I can still use them outside… And you just gave me a _great idea!”_

Natsu focused his magic and channeled it to his right arm—but at the elbow rather than the fist. As it was outside the Wave, there was nothing stopping the flames from erupting in a powerful stream. Yuka’s eyes widened as he realized exactly what the Dragon Slayer’s plan was. _“Fire Dragon’s Flame Elbow!”_

There was no time to move out of the way. Natsu’s punch landed a direct hit on Yuka’s face, launching the other wizard across the area and knocking him out cold. Natsu held up his fist in victory. “That’s one down.”

“Man… You’re awesome.”

Natsu turned to face the one wizard he had yet to fight. “You’re about to find out just how awesome firsthand!”

“I’m not scared, ‘cause I’m even stronger than Yuka is,” Toby said with a grin. He brought his hands up in front of his face. The nails glowed with magic, elongating and turning a green color. “Check out my Mega Jellyfish Paralyzing Claws! Bet you’ll never guess what these babies can do!”

“Paralyze you?”

“Whoa!” Toby went still from shock. “How did you _know_ that?” The dog man regarded him with a wary look. “You got ESP or somethin’?”

“No,” Natsu said blankly. “You’re just… real dumb.”

“NOBODY TALKS TO ME LIKE THAT!” Toby charged at the wizard and Natsu calmly moved out of the way of the swipe. “Watch it!” the Dragon Slayer said.

“With just one swipe from my claws, you’ll be frozen, waiting to die!” Toby followed up each swipe with another, hardly letting up on his onslaught.

Natsu jumped away and quickly called, “Hey man, hold on a sec!” When Toby paused, Natsu reached up to his own forehead and gently touched it. “You got a little something right here.”

Toby blinked and raised his hand to the same place. The next second, he was yelling out in pain as he electrocuted himself with his magic claws. A moment went by before he fell unconscious.

“Well, that was easy.” Natsu turned away and walked over towards the edge of the giant ditch. He easily spotted the flat slab of stone he’d been looking for. “Those guys were a joke. Here we go…!”

He heaved the stone off the ground and carried it over to the small mound of rocks. Angling it right, Natsu slid the gravestone back into its rightful place. “We’re gonna find a way to change your people back to normal, Bobo,” Natsu muttered to the grave. “I know we will. And I promise you, I _will_ avenge your death.”

* * *

 

“Excuse me, Cold Emperor.” A short, cloaked man entered the underground chamber with several people in robes following behind him. The man wore a red mask that covered the top half of his face, and a mess of green hair trailed down his back. “I’m sorry to interrupt but I was wondering why you chose to spare the life of that wizard, Gray.”

Lyon stood a few meters in front of him. His helmet was placed on one of the stones near his feet. He didn’t avert his gaze from the frozen Deliora in front of him when he replied. “No reason,” he said. “Other than I don’t feel the need to shed any more blood.”

“You say that, but ordering your minions to kill those villagers tells a different story,” the masked man pointed out. “It would appear that you have a soft spot for your former rival.”

Lyon let out a little amused huff. “Nonsense. I simply have no desire to get any more blood on _my_ hands. But if he happens to get in my way again, I won’t hesitate to kill him.”

The man grinned widely. “That’s good,” he commented quietly to himself. “I’m glad.”

* * *

 

On another part of the island, Lucy sat up and rubbed her head to get rid of the dizziness. Perhaps grabbing onto the rat and then tickling her wasn’t the smartest idea she’d ever had, but she was acting in the moment! She had to do what she could to protect the villagers from those wizards.

Coming to a realization, Lucy glanced around the surrounding area. All she could see was the large rat, unconscious a dozen meters away. After a fall like that, she doubted that the rat would bother her again for a while. But there was one more thing that was missing. “Where’d that weird chick go?”

The soft sound of sobbing drew her attention to her right. Looking down at her from the top of a small cliff was the wizard she’d been looking for. Tears streamed down Sherry’s face and dripped to the ground. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? It’s horrible! Because of you, the Cold Emperor will no longer be able to trust me! He won’t love me anymore!”

“Love…?”

“And look what you did to Angelica!” Sherry furiously wiped away the tears and screamed, “I’LL MAKE YOU PAY!”

“Bring it on!” Lucy declared. “Let’s see what you’ve got!”

Sherry threw out her hand, glowing pink with magic. _“Wood Doll!”_

Lucy watched the wizard intently to see what would happen. She was distracted by the sound of leaves rustling violently behind her. She turned to see a massive tree monster staring down at her. “That tree’s alive?!”

She grunted in surprise as the monster suddenly lashed out with its fist. She narrowly managed to avoid the brunt of the punch but the force behind it was enough to knock her away. Grasping wildly for her keys, her fingers curled around one of her golden ones and she pulled it off the ring.

_“Open, Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!”_

“I’m not a perv! Just a fan of pretty ladies!” Once he’d fully materialized, Taurus wasted no time. He pulled his ax out and swung it at the tree monster, slicing through the bark with ease. With its legs separated from its torso, the monster hardly posed a threat.

Lucy grinned. “Nice work, Taurus!”

“Why don’t you reward me with a smoooooch?”

“What kind of wizard forces their Celestial Spirits to say things like that?” Sherry scrunched up her face. “You disgust me.”

Lucy’s face grew red with anger. “I didn’t _force_ him to say it! I hate when he’s pervy!”

“Well…” Sherry’s grin grew. “Your kind don’t like my magic, and you’re about to find out why.”

Lucy pointed in her direction. “Taurus, go!”

The cow spirit let out a battle cry as he charged, the bell around his neck shaking and ringing as he went—but he’d barely made it halfway before he slowed to a halt. Lucy watched in confusion and was about to call out to him when his head sharply turned towards her. Alarm bells went off in her head and she found herself instinctively moving.

It ended up saving her life as Taurus suddenly swung his ax down at her.

She hit the ground hard, inching away from the shiny blade lodged in the dirt next to her. She felt her shirt slide off her chest, torn at the back. She may have been able to avoid serious injury, but the ragged remains of her shirt showed how close it’d been. Taurus meant business.

“What are you doing?! What’s gotten into you?!” Lucy cried. She tried to get up but Taurus drove his fist down towards her. She flinched and rolled away from it, feeling the minor tremors through the ground. Before she could move again, Taurus grabbed onto both of her wrists and pinned her down.

She was trapped and at the mercy of her spirit, who had turned on her without warning.

“A-Ah, Miss Lucy! I can’t control my moooovements!” Lucy grimaced as his grip tightened on her arms. She looked up at her spirit who looked to be in no better condition. His face was strained and panicked, unable to stop himself from hurting her. The wizard looked at his eyes and noticed the pink glow coming from them.

“Marionette Attack Magic. You like?” Sherry asked. Her hands were raised and her fingers wiggled as if playing with strings on a puppet. “It allows me to control anything I like. Well, except for humans, that is. It works well on your spirit friend, though.”

Lucy winced again and whispered, “Please, let me go.”

“I wish that I could, Miss Lucy,” Taurus groaned. “I can’t help it! She’s controlling my every moooove!”

“Close now!” Lucy yelled. “Gate of the Golden Bull!”

They both waited for something— _anything_ to happen, but there was no doorbell, no fading in a flash of light. Nothing happened.

Sherry tilted her head quizzically, her mouth forming a knowing smile. “I thought Celestial Gates couldn’t be closed unless both parties consent to it.”

Lucy grimaced. Of course she knew that. Both her and Taurus’ magic was what opened the gate in the first place. She could feel her magic drain as she struggled to close the gate by herself. She didn’t have enough power; she needed Taurus to help her. “Close the gate! Taurus, please!”

Taurus’ face contorted as he fought against Sherry’s control. Lucy could feel a flicker of his magic, but it wasn’t nearly enough to close it. Despite being able to talk, Sherry had complete control over him—and that included his magic.

The pink-haired girl smiled. “Beg all you want, but it won’t make any difference.”

“TAURUS!”

Sherry’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I know! Let’s play a round of Renian Roulette Punches! Close your eyes and punch ‘til you get a hit!”

Taurus’ eyes slid shut and one of his hands pulled back. Lucy moved her head as his fist crashed into the ground just beside her. Sherry didn’t look discouraged by the dodge. “Fine. How long can you dodge before you wear out?”

Taurus used his other hand and punched once again. Lucy dodged again but found herself somewhat stuck. It took a moment to realize that some of her hair had been trapped under his fist. “Don’t hit me!”

“I’m trying not to…!” He reared up and clasped both hands together above his head before bringing them down. With her wrists free, Lucy could move with a lot more freedom and avoided the blow. She tried to move away but she was once again impeded by a pressure on her legs. Taurus was heavy and using his legs to hold her in place. There was no escaping. “Miss Lucy, you need to close the gate!”

“I can’t do it by myself!” she shouted. “I need your help to close it!”

“You can force the gate closed!”

Lucy froze for a moment before avoiding another devastating punch. She shook her head furiously. “No way! I can’t do that! I don’t want to force you guys to do anything!”

“Are all Fairy Tail wizards as pathetic as you?” Sherry twirled her ponytail around her finger. “This is just sad.”

“Remember the contract you made with me, Taurus! Snap out of it!” the blonde yelled.

…

_“So your name’s Lucy, huh? Your body’s so hot, it’s making me drooool!” The spirit’s eyes sparkled as he gushed over the wizard’s appearance. “Ooooh! Look at you!”_

_Lucy sighed. A breeze blew through the pasture she’d chosen to summon her new spirit in. She thought herself lucky to find another Zodiac key—there were only twelve, after all, and she already had two. And yet…_

_“I never would’ve imagined the Zodiac’s Golden Bull would be such a pervert.” She folded her arms across her chest. There was no doubt that the Zodiac spirit would be a powerful addition, but she valued her sanity and privacy more than power. “I dunno if I want to go through with this…”_

_She was caught off guard when Taurus suddenly mooed loudly and flexed his arms. “There’s no need for you to worry, pretty lady!” He flashed her a bright, confident smile. “If you make a contract with me, I’ll do everything I can to protect you, and your hot bod too.”_

_Lucy still looked doubtful, but she asked, “Promise?”_

_“I swear!”_

…

“You promised that you’d always be around to protect me, remember?!”

Taurus gritted his teeth. He did remember, but his will was only so strong. It couldn’t fight off the magic long enough to close his gate. “M-Miss Lucy! You gotta close the gate!”

“I told you, I won’t force it! I’m not strong enough to—!”

“You are! Do it!”

“Hey!” Sherry shouted. “What do you think you’re doing?! Just finish her off already!”

Taurus’ strength gave out. He pulled his fist back once again and drove it towards Lucy. The blonde watched as the fist rapidly drew closer and reacted instinctively.

_“Close, Gate of the Golden Bull!”_

Lucy kept her eyes closed, waiting for the inevitable impact. When nothing happened for several moments, she cracked one open.

She looked just in time to see Taurus’ approving look before he vanished in a flash of light.

For a while, Lucy just lay there, breathing hard from the amount of magic needed to close the gate. She lifted her hands and placed them in front of her face. “It… worked.”

She told herself a long time ago that even if she could, she wouldn’t force any gates closed. Her spirits were her friends and they worked together—it didn’t feel right to force them to do anything. But after forcing Taurus’ gate closed, it didn’t feel nearly as bad as she had imagined. Taurus had encouraged her to do it. He clearly wanted the gate closed; he just needed her to do it in his stead.

And she had. Lucy felt a smile work its way onto her face. “I’ve gotten stronger…”

She jumped to her feet and grabbed her whip from its place on her belt. Lucy pulled it taut as she smirked confidently at Sherry, who still looked astounded from the feat Lucy accomplished. “Watch out! ‘Cause you’re dealing with a full-fledged member of the Fairy Tail guild now!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOMEBODY PUT THIS STORY ON THE DR TV TROPES FANFIC RECS PAGE AND I CANT BELIEVE IT ALSO SOMEONE STARTED WRITING A STORY ON FANFIC 'CAUSE OF ME WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING ANYMORE.
> 
> I never could've predicted this happening when I started posting O.o
> 
> Also Sherry says Renian Roulette instead of Russian Roulette 'cause I realized while writing this that RUSSIA DOESN'T EXIST IN EARTHLAND WHY WOULD IT BE RUSSIAN ROULETTE. So now Rena is a country and people from it are Renian and Rena is Italian for sand so yay.
> 
> This'll probably happen with similar things like Sol's French accent + speech. It'll still be French, just called something else.
> 
> ALSO HOLY SHIT WE'VE REACHED 100,000 WORDS WHAT IS THIS
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	14. Do What You Must

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Separated, the Fairy Tail wizards do their best to defeat the Cold Emperor and finish the quest, but things get complicated when Titania herself arrives to bring them back—by force, if necessary.

Sherry stared blankly at the blonde Fairy Tail wizard. No matter how many times she replayed the scene in her head, she couldn’t fully believe it. “You were able to close the gate,” she murmured. “Even though I was in control.”

Lucy grinned, holding her whip taut despite the ache in her limbs. Honestly, even she was surprised it worked. Spirit gates normally worked like double doors—the wizard used their magic to open and close one half, and the spirit takes care of the other. Forcing a gate closed meant closing both sides, which meant double the magic. Only a small proportion of wizards practiced Celestial Spirit Magic, and there weren’t many wizards to begin with. It was difficult to find someone who could claim to be able to force a gate closed.

Lucy had made much more progress with her magic in the month at Fairy Tail than ever before.

“I guess that means I’m stronger than you,” the blonde finally said with a smug tone.

“Well, I don’t know if I would take it _that_ far,” Sherry replied, sounding a little less distracted. She placed a hand on her hip. “Remember, my powers allow me to take control over any Celestial Spirits that you might call forth.”

Lucy’s left hand dropped the leather whip and crept down to her keyring. “Don’t be so sure. I’ve got a few powerful spirits up my sleeve.” Grabbing one, she pulled it off and brandished it in front of her face. The silver key gleamed in the light of the moon. _“Open, Gate of the Little Dog! Nikola!”_

Plue appeared from the Spirit World in a flash. The little white spirit hummed, happy to help his wizard, and spun in a little circle.

“Isn’t he the cutest little thing?!” Sherry gushed upon seeing the spirit. “Oh, I’m in love!”

Lucy had known about this girl’s existence for all of a few hours and she’d worked the word ‘love’ into every other sentence she spoke. What the heck was up with her? Lucy frowned. “Would you quit talking about love all the time? It’s getting pretty old.”

“Well, _someone’s_ bitter,” Sherry commented. She held her hands out as she activated her magic. _“Marionette Attack!_ Now you’re my puppet!”

Plue, unaware of the potential danger, charged straight at Sherry to attack. The moment the spell took effect, however, he stopped in his tracks. Plue turned back to his summoner with an uncharacteristic snarl and a purple glint in his eyes.

Lucy took a nervous step back at the abrupt change in behavior. “Oh no, not you too!”

The dog spirit let out a high-pitched growling sound and rushed at her—

The two wizards watched silently as Plue battered Lucy’s boots with the strength of a toddler. His attacks were so weak that she could just stand there and take it without any trouble whatsoever.

Sherry realized her mistake too late and Lucy smirked triumphantly. “I knew you’d fall for that!” she shouted. With expert aim, she cracked her whip in Sherry’s direction. She leaped out of the way of the attack. The whip instead hit the ground with enough force to leave a gouge in the dirt.

Sherry gritted her teeth. “You deliberately summoned a weak spirit!”

“That’s right.” As Lucy spoke, Plue clung to her leg and continued to attack her with little effect. “I knew that if I called forth little Plue here, it would make your spell totally pointless!”

Sherry dodged out of the way of another one of Lucy’s whip attacks. She caught sight of the spirit and frowned. At this rate, it’d be more useful to have a butterfly try to take down her opponent. She held her hands out in front of her. “Geez! I release you from command!”

It didn’t take long for Plue to notice he could move his limbs under his own volition again. He immediately bowed over and over again, apologizing for his actions.

Lucy gave him a quick pat on the head and smiled. “Aw, I know you didn’t mean it! Now go back, okay?” Plue complied and vanished in a flash of light.

Sherry wasn’t discouraged by the failed attempt. _“Marionette Attack!”_ she cried. Rocks began floating around her and bunching together. “Get her, _Rock Doll!”_

“We’re going to keep going round and round, aren’t we?” Lucy asked. “I’ll stop your doll with a spirit, you’ll take control of it, and then I’ll close its gate!”

“GRRAAARGHH!”

Her eyes widened and she let out a little squeak. Sherry’s magic completed its work and Lucy finally paid attention to what she was facing. The pink-haired girl smirked down at her from the head of a rock monster at least thrice Lucy’s size.

“It’s like we’re playing Cat and Mouse. I love that game,” Sherry gloated with a smirk. She tilted her head. “Let’s see what you can do, little mouse. You think you can beat my Rock Doll?”

Lucy bit her lip nervously. A tree was one thing, but several tons of rock would be a different matter altogether. “Now I’m in trouble… I don’t think I have a spirit strong enough to destroy that thi—AAAHH!”

Lucy shrieked and jumped away, narrowly avoiding the rock fist that crashed down right next to her. She scrambled to her feet and ran from the deceptively fast puppet. She almost tripped up as the ground behind her quaked. Her legs and arms pumped harder to get her as far away from certain death as they could.

“Bad bad bad _oh so very bad!”_

“Don’t let her get away, Rock Doll!” Sherry commanded. “Let’s teach that foolish little girl a lesson!”

A feeling of indignation welled up inside the blonde wizard. “Who are you calling a little girl?! We’re the same age—I might even be a little older!”

Sherry grinned. “It’s not a good idea to keep babbling like that unless you want us to catch you!”

Lucy snatched the keyring off of her belt, glancing at the wildly jangling keys for assistance. “Okay, what spirits do I have that could help me out in this situation?!”

Horologium? He could protect her somewhat, but not against something as fundamentally tough as this.

Lyra? What was she gonna do, _sing it a lullaby?_

Cancer?

…

Rock versus scissors. _Anyone_ could tell you how that ends up.

“You better hurry! If you don’t start moving faster, we’re going to catch up with you!” Sherry taunted.

Lucy sprinted faster in response, barely registering the trees beginning to thin out. She stumbled briefly over a rock in her path and hazarded a glance behind her—and screamed as a giant foot of stone hovered over her head.

_“I command you to crush her flat!”_

Lucy leaped backward to avoid the weight crashing to the ground. Her arms and knees scraped against the rocks on the ground, but that was of little consequence considering what _would’ve_ happened if she hadn’t moved.

An ominous cracking sound split the air.

Lucy’s heart jumped into her throat. She wildly looked around and the realization of where they were finally dawned on her.

“Hold on… Isn’t this a… _a cliff?!”_ she screamed.

The ground gave way beneath her. Gravity took action and her stomach somersaulted countless times on the way down. One thing was on her mind as she fell, and that was the fact that things wouldn’t look well for her if her fall was cushioned by the cliff rocks. With difficulty, she propped herself up slightly on the balls of her feet and pushed off wildly.

Good news, she landed on the softer sand.

Bad news, a spike of pain jolted up her leg and she collapsed in surprise.

“Finish her, Rock Doll!”

There was no time to rest or see what was damaged. She looked up and screamed again, scrambling away from the crash site as the rock monster leaped off the cliff and slammed into the ground. She could hear Sherry’s triumphant laugh from the top of her puppet. “There’s nowhere to run, _Blondie!”_

Her feet stopped as she realized what Sherry was referring to. A few inches away, the deep ocean blue stretched out in front of her, waves lapping softly at the shore. There was the rest of the beach to either side, but the Rock Doll would catch up before long and Lucy couldn’t keep running forever.

But while Sherry saw a dead end, Lucy saw a potentially life-saving opportunity.

“I could summon Aquarius from here…” she murmured to herself.

“Looks like the cat’s finally going to catch the mouse,” Sherry crowed as the Rock Doll slowly stomped its way over. It seemed that, just like a cat, Sherry liked tormenting and playing with her catch before finishing it off.

Lucy gritted her teeth. She was running out of time. If she wanted to summon Aquarius, now was the time to do it. But there were two small problems with her last resort… “Water can’t destroy that thing,” she argued under her breath. “Besides, Aquarius would just wash me away with them.”

The rock monster pulled back its fist. Sherry grinned. “I’m going to crush you like a little bug! Sorry, no _love_ for you!”

Wash her away…

Lucy’s eyes widened.

“That’s it!”

The blonde moved away before she was hit, heading straight into the sea. She unclipped the key from the ring, taking it between her fingers and plunging it into the water. _“Open, Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!”_

Right on cue, the blue-haired mermaid materialized in a splash of water and light, floating just above the ocean’s surface. She actually appeared instead of simply disregarding the summon—a good start, all things considered.

Sherry’s nose wrinkled at the sight of the Zodiac spirit. _“Aquarius?_ How does a weakling like you have a spirit with that kind of power?”

Lucy ignored her words. There was something a little more important to be focusing on. “Listen, that girl there is our enemy! You hate her kind, so go get her!”

“Tch.”

Like actually getting her spirit to listen to her for once. Lucy turned to the mermaid and yelled, “I don’t have time to deal with your bad attitude! Get over there and take her down, _now!”_

“Well, I see you’re just as annoying as ever,” Aquarius commented as if this was a casual conversation, definitely _not_ getting over there and taking Sherry down. “No wonder you still don’t have a boyfriend.”

“GEEZ, WHY’D YOU HAVE TO KEEP RUBBING IT IN LIKE THAT?”

Sherry—noticing that while wizard and spirit were arguing, there was no focus on _her_ or what _she_ was doing—took the initiative. She thrust out her hands that were glowing with magical power. _“Marionette Attack!_ You will now do as I command!”

The spell took hold. Aquarius’ glowing pink eyes narrowed at her words. “What.”

Sherry smirked. “She’s under my spell so she won’t do your bidding anymore. Might as well send her back.”

There was only one thing Lucy _could_ do in this situation—hope her luck would hold out. “No way,” she said. “Aquarius is still my ace in the hole.”

Sherry’s expression twisted into one of anger at Lucy’s defiance. “I bet you won’t still think that when the sea washes away your pitiful existence! Now Aquarius, get rid of this stupid girl once and for all!”

 _“What.”_ The magic connected to Aquarius’ urn activated. A bright light glowed from deep within and a massive volume of water gushed out. “I WAS ALREADY _PLANNING_ ON IT!”

With a swing of her urn, Aquarius formed a huge tidal wave that bore down on the beach. Lucy had a moment to look up at the wall of water rushing towards her and remind herself that _this_ was the best idea she could come up with. Clearly something _besides_ her magic needed to be worked on as well. She swallowed nervously and screamed as she got swept up in the powerful current.

Sherry smiled victoriously. “Say goodbye, little fa—Huh?” She blinked when she noticed something important.

The wave wasn’t stopping.

“AHHHH!”

The force of the attack dragged her from her perch and into the water. Obeying the spirit’s will, the water twisted around and formed a massive whirlpool that tossed the girls in every direction without end.

Aquarius floated nearby, watching in amusement with deep blue eyes. “And I thought the blonde girl was stupid. I can close my own gate, thank you very much. Buh bye!” She disappeared in a flash of starlight.

With the source of its power gone, the ocean deposited the two wizards onto the beach. Lucy struggled to stand on shaky legs. She almost fell over again from how dizzy the whirlpool left her. “Leave it to Aquarius to hurl her waves at friend and foe alike…” she mumbled.

Sherry was in no better condition, stumbling around the sand in a wide arc. “I hate myself for allowing you to trick me again…!” She threw out her arm, pointing in the completely wrong direction in triumph. “But it doesn’t matter because she wasn’t strong enough to destroy my Rock Doll…!”

“And so what…?!” Lucy fired back, speaking towards the empty space between the ocean and the rock monster. “That puppet of yours can’t do anything if you’re not there to control it…! I knew all I had to do was get you away from that thing and it worked ‘cause now you’re too dizzy to even walk a straight line…!”

Their drunken stumbling on the beach finally led them to crash into each other. They growled and childishly lashed out at each other, missing their mark most of the time.

“That’s what you get for messing with a member of Fairy Tail!”

“I can’t believe we ended up in a stalemate!”

“What do you mean stalemate?! I’m obviously the winner here!”

“You can’t just declare yourself the winner of a fight! If that’s the case, then _I’m_ the winner!”

_“I don’t think so!”_

Lucy lashed out blindly, swinging her fist in a wide arc. Sherry was much closer than she expected and instead of punching her, Lucy’s arm slammed into her throat.

“No!” Sherry coughed out. “How’d this happen to me?! I never lose!”

Lucy grinned as her dizziness finally faded. The light from the sun reflected and shone bright in her brown eyes. “Yeah? Well you just did! To a wizard from Fairy Tail!”

The shock of the blow disrupted Sherry’s concentration and the Rock Doll crumbled to dust. Even as she fell, Sherry placed a hand on her chest. “Although the burning flame of my life has been extinguished far too soon, my love for you will blaze on eternally, Cold Emperor!”

Lucy sweatdropped. This girl was seriously weird. “You’re not gonna die, so let’s tone down the drama, ‘kay?”

Sherry collapsed to the ground and managed to squeak out, “Angelica… Avenge your master’s death…!”

Lucy blinked in surprise. “What?”

A loud, squeaky battle cry sounded from behind her. She whirled around to see the giant rat jumping from the tree line towards them. Her eyes widened. “But I thought that rat was one of her puppets!”

She tried to move out of the way but suddenly dropped to the ground with a pained cry. She grimaced and looked at her ankle. She’d almost forgotten she injured it in the fall from the cliff! It had probably been dulled by adrenaline or something, but the force of moving suddenly made it too painful to even move. “Ah! Of all times, why’d you gotta give up on me now?!”

She glanced up. Angelica was almost on top of her, ready to crush her flat. Out of time. She shrieked and held her arms over her head in a futile attempt to protect herself.

A loud thud shook the ground, but it took Lucy several moments to realize she was still fine and she hadn’t been squashed by a giant rat. What happened? She slowly rose to her feet and looked around, her breathing heavy with lingering panic, trying to make sense of the situation. Angelica was lying on the sand right next to her unconscious master. A few feet away from them was a person shining in the sunlight, a small sliver of blood dripping down their sword—and Lucy beamed as she recognized her savior.

“Erza!”

The redhead turned sharply at her voice and glared full force.

“Eep!” Lucy flinched from her furious expression. It took her a moment to work out the reason behind her anger. Right, it was because they all went on an S-Class quest without permission. Makarov probably sent her after Gray never returned with them. It was lucky that Gray was the first one that came to retrieve them, otherwise they would’ve been dragged away at Hargeon. Painfully.

Although, with Erza’s appearance on the island a day later, was the situation much better?

“Lucy.” Erza’s tone of voice was flat but sharp, like the edge of her blade. “I assume you know why I’m here. You do, don’t you?”

“To take us back…?” Lucy answered slowly. She placed her hands together and looked at her pleadingly. “Promise you won’t hurt me?”

Silence ensued.

And then a certain blue cat appeared from the sky.

“Hey, I’ve been looking all over for you!” Happy cried when he spotted the blonde on the beach. For some reason, she looked extremely pale. “I’m glad you’re okay! I was wor—”

He stopped short when he got a closer look at the person with her. That wasn’t pink hair in ponytails like that love-girl, it was scarlet red. And she wasn’t wearing maid clothes, she was decked out in armor. Red hair, shiny armor—

A sharp gasp left him as he finally worked everything out and he promptly fled in the other direction.

Or he would’ve, if Erza hadn’t been faster and grabbed him.

“Now where are the others?” she demanded. She tightened her grip on her prisoner’s tail. This wasn’t going well at all. If Lucy wanted to get out of this unharmed, she was going to have to calm Erza down. Maybe if she could explain everything, they could come to an understanding!

“Listen, I’m sorry we came here without permission,” Lucy started. “But some really awful things have been happening on this island! There’s this guy and his minions who are trying to revive a frozen demon! And the island’s villagers are suffering because of the magic spell they’re using. They’ve turned into monsters!”

It hurt just thinking of the pain the villagers were put through every night. Lucy averted her gaze and looked at the ground. “We just thought… that if we worked together, we might be able to help them.”

“None of that is my concern.”

Lucy’s head shot up at Erza’s blunt dismissal. “Please Erza, let us finish this job!” she begged. “We can’t leave things this way—Eek!”

Lucy recoiled as she suddenly found herself staring down the sharp length of a bloodstained sword. Erza was glaring from the other end of it. “I don’t think you understand. You have _betrayed_ Master Makarov.” Erza’s expression darkened. “You’ll be lucky if you walk away with your lives.”

Yeah, now she was scared.

* * *

 

“Mackie…”

Makoto blinked awake when something soft poked his cheek. He instinctively rubbed it and then massaged his eyes. A large yawn forced its way out as he blearily took in his surroundings. The inside of the tent was rather small, but it was big enough for its purpose. Stacked around him were numerous crates, empty and full and somewhere in between. He was sat on one crate and had been leaning against another. Sunlight streamed in from the slit in the tent fabric that acted as the entrance.

He remembered now. It didn’t take long for him and Maya to catch up to the villagers. The wizards kept watch on the ground and in the air for any sign of danger. Makoto didn’t know exactly how many people worked with this Lyon guy and there could be others with orders to attack the villagers besides those wizards. Thankfully for all involved, the group made it to the storage area with no incidents.

Makoto’s work didn’t stop with their arrival. He did everything he could to help the villagers, whether it was cleaning out space in the tents, distributing food, or simply comforting some as they dealt with the fact their homes had been destroyed right in front of them. No task was too small or bothersome and Makoto completed them all with a patient and hopeful smile.

Maya eventually tried to make him take a break, pointing out how he was practically dead on his feet and he’d been working nonstop for several hours. Of course, Makoto refused. How could he rest at a time like that? When there was still much he could do to help everyone? Maya huffed at his response and muttered something about ‘Dragon Slayers’ and ‘too stubborn for their own good, yup yup’. It was only when Tano also noticed Makoto’s clear exhaustion and expressed his concern that he finally relented. He planned to rest for a brief moment in the storage tent to satisfy them and get back to work as soon as possible, but it looked like he fell asleep.

He rubbed the last of the sleep out of his eyes and focused on the blue blur in front of him. He greeted her with a smile. “Hey, Maya. Is something up? Does someone need help?”

Maya shook her head and held out her paw. Grasped in it was a loaf of bread, similar to the ones Makoto had given out the night before. “Breakfast!” she chirruped.

He thanked the cat and bit into the loaf. It wasn’t much, but his rumbling stomach wasn’t about to complain. In Maya’s other paw was a small raw fish. She shoved it in her mouth and plopped down next to her friend.

“How are the villagers?” Makoto asked between bites.

Maya swallowed and stared at the fish. “Sadder than me when you got arrested.”

Makoto frowned at the reminder and implication of it. “I don’t blame them…” he sighed. “Seeing your home destroyed… That’s rough.”

He knew from personal experience how difficult it was to accept and deal with. The images from that video—their first motive in the school—were still fresh in his mind, as if he had just watched it yesterday. His family was there one moment, happy and smiling and wishing him luck in his new prestigious school.

And then they were gone.

The knowledge he acquired at the final trial didn’t help calm his anxieties. The part of the video with his family—that had to be from two years ago, from when he was actually attending the school. The encouraging words from his parents and the fact Komaru looked the same age he remembered attested to that. More worryingly was when the second part was recorded. The world ended a year ago. What happened to his family since that moment their house was destroyed? Where were they now? Were they safe? …Were they alive?

Makoto forcibly pushed the memories to the back of his mind. No, now was not the best time to be thinking about that. Even if he wasn’t currently on Galuna Island, he was still in Earthland—far enough away from home that magic spells and frog people were regular occurrences. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t go back to Earth and look for his family.

Right now, the villagers who were still reeling from the attack on their lives were his number one concern, and he’d do everything in his power to help them. And to do that, he’d need his friends. “What about Natsu and Lucy? Are they back yet?”

Maya’s face dropping wasn’t exactly the positive response he was hoping for.

“Nope, no sign of them,” she reported.

Nothing? Makoto was confident that the two could handle their opponents—Natsu was powerful and relentless while Lucy was smart and resourceful. What could be taking them so long to return? “What about Gray? Has he woken up?”

A shake of the head.

“Then I guess it’s just us…” he mumbled.

“Yuph yuphh!” Maya’s voice was muffled by the food in her mouth. She swallowed and then quickly said, “Hey, while we’re waiting, we should try working out the curse again! That would make the villagers happier, right?”

He smiled at her suggestion. “That sounds like a great idea! And thanks to Natsu and the others, we know a bit more than we used to.”

“The demon curse being caused by that Moon Drip stuff?”

“Yeah.” Makoto let out a sigh and rested his cheek on his hand. “Which is where I hit a dead end because I know nothing about magic. The only solution I can think of is that some other magic spell might be able to reverse the effects, but that’s not much to go on.”

“Moon Drip…” Maya hummed. Her ears flicked in thought. “I think I’ve heard of it, but I dunno a lot about it. It’s just some old Bellianese spell that can break most other magic spells.”

“Bellianese?”

“From Bellum,” she explained briefly. “It’s a place to the east.”

Makoto scratched his head. “One of these days, I’m going to need a map…” His geography knowledge was _seriously_ lacking. He already experienced several close calls with his ignorance on Earthland common knowledge. Taking the necessary steps to learn about it sounded much more desirable than raising more suspicion.

Surprisingly, Maya was the one to get them back on track. “Anything else we can figure out about the curse?”

The Dragon Slayer took a deep breath in and then let it out, leaning back against the tower of crates behind him. Any conclusions they could reach about the solution would be vague, but there was something else he didn’t have an explanation for. “It’s not specifically related to the curse, there is something I think we need to consider.”

“Which is…?”

“Bobo,” he said. “And how he was in the boat.”

Maya gave a small frown and raised a paw to her mouth. “Aren’t we focusing on breaking the curse, though? How can Mister Demon Arm help with that?”

“Well, I don’t know yet, to be honest,” Makoto admitted. “And it might not get us anywhere… But besides a way to break the curse, it’s the only other thing I can think of that doesn’t have an answer yet. It could still be important. If solving mysteries with my friends has taught me anything, it’s that even the smallest details can be a vital clue.”

“I don’t wanna argue with you, Mackie,” Maya said just before she started arguing with him. “But you keep saying it’s not possible for him to have survived. And the villagers were pretty sure the thing they did killed him.”

“I know that, but that would mean Bobo was a ghost and I don’t think that’s a very likely explanation. Like I said before, we should consider the possibility that Bobo’s actually alive. And so that means he survived being… stabbed in… the heart…”

He paused. Yeah, that sounded _so_ much more likely.

“I just can’t figure it out!” He tugged at his hair for a moment and then threw his hands out in front of him. “How do you fake a death with a village full of people watching?! They stabbed him, that _definitely_ happened, because they thought he’d turned into a demon permanently and—”

A lightbulb went off in his head.

( _“Wait a minute… Permanently…?”_ )

Maya tilted her head and prodded the frozen Makoto. “What’s up?”

“Maya,” he said quietly. “The Bobo in the boat… He was human, wasn’t he?”

“Yup yup.”

“But… The villagers stabbed him because they thought he’d lost his mind, and they thought he lost his mind because he couldn’t turn back human.”

“Mackie, I don’t know where you’re going with this, but—Hey! Don’t _actually_ go somewhere!”

Makoto pushed his way out of the hut and ignored his cat’s cries. He was way too focused on the realization he’d come to. ( _“Bobo_ can _turn back into a human. That would mean he_ didn’t _lose his mind. Which means… what he said… Could it really be that—?”_ )

He turned the corner—only to bump into someone he never expected to see.

Makoto stumbled backward in shock. “E-Erza?!”

Her hand shot out faster than he could react. She grasped the front of his hoodie and forcefully brought him closer, providing him with a perfect view of the tranquil fury burning in her eyes. “Where are Gray and Natsu?”

Makoto gulped at her tone. Of course Erza would be the next one Makarov sent after the wayward wizards. She was the only one capable of making Natsu and Gray listen to her, the two most likely to disobey orders to return. For a moment, he’d actually forgotten that none of them were supposed to be on the island. Oh man, she was _really_ pissed at them all. “G-Gray’s still unconscious, but Natsu—”

“Hey Mackie, I told you to wait u—AaaAHHHH!” Maya let out a terrified scream when she saw the murderous expression on Erza’s face. “SHE’S ANGRY! I DON’T LIKE HER WHEN SHE’S ANGRY!”

Erza released her grip on Makoto’s hoodie and snatched Maya up by the tail before she could fly away. With Erza’s support unexpectedly disappearing, Makoto collapsed to the ground with a surprised grunt. He looked up at her, catching sight of Lucy and Happy bounded by ropes. Her other hand squeezed the two rope ends tightly.

“Where’s Natsu?” Erza asked again. Her tone was stern and serious—no more distractions, no fooling around. Maya whimpered from the strength of her grip.

“H-He was fighting some people at the remains of the village, last I saw… He hasn’t come back here,” he answered nervously as he stood up. “U-Uh, could you let go of Maya…?”

“You said Gray was unconscious?” Erza continued as if not hearing him at all. When Makoto nodded in response, she said, “We’ll wait for him to come to. After that, we’ll find Natsu and return to the guild.”

“R-Return to the guild?!” Makoto echoed in surprise.

“You broke guild rules. I am here to bring you back.”

“But—” Makoto broke off and looked around them. A few villagers were standing around watching, no doubt intrigued by the commotion. This was really a conversation better kept private. He held up a finger to Erza, asking her to wait. He walked back to the storage tent he’d been sleeping in and poked his head in. Still empty. Perfect.

He waved at Erza, coaxing her inside. She followed after a moment, dragging Lucy, Happy, and Maya along with her.

“Erza,” he started again. His voice dropped in volume now that he was mindful of interested ears outside. “Haven’t you seen what’s happened to the villagers?”

“I have. Lucy filled me in on what’s been happening.”

“Well, we can’t just go back to the guild like this! I know we weren’t supposed to be here in the first place, but we are and they need help—”

She turned to him sharply, brown eyes blazing with anger. “They need help from people _qualified_ to handle S-Class quests, not inexperienced wizards who feel they have something to prove.”

Makoto paused in his tracks. There was something in her tone, an underlying accusation. Was she…? “Something to pro—You think I’m here to _prove_ something?”

The armored wizard raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you?”

Her knowing tone caused a twinge of pain in his chest. She was! But what was she referring to exactly? He’d been so focused on the villagers and the curse that the answer didn’t come easily. He thought back a few days, back to the day they’d left to take on the quest. Suddenly, it clicked. There was only one incident that came to mind that could possibly give Erza that impression.

( _“That confrontation… with Laxus…?”_ )

“O-Of course not!” Makoto denied. “Laxus has nothing to do with why I’m here!” Her assertion wasn't true, but he could understand why she'd think it was. His reaction had been quite extreme. Even just remembering the incident brought forth the anger he’d felt at Laxus’ condescending attitude and smug words that were absolute lies—

“Are you sure?” Erza pressed, noticing the anger building up in the Dragon Slayer. “I’m disappointed in you, Makoto. I had thought you were a mature and responsible wizard, that you wouldn’t let another’s words control your actions and lead you to such foolish behavior—but clearly I was wrong.”

Makoto stopped and took several breaths to calm himself down. Getting worked up from his memories was not going to help his case. His emotions from that day may still be raw, but he was confident that Erza was wrong and they had no influence on his decision.

“I’m telling you Erza, that’s not why I’m here,” Makoto explained. “I came because I was worried about Natsu and Lucy. I knew I couldn’t dissuade them from going, so the only thing I felt I could do was come with them to make sure they didn’t do something stupid and get themselves in trouble.”

He gestured to the closed entrance behind them—to the people outside who’d been through so many hardships. “But now that I’m here, now that I’ve seen what happened to the people on this island, that reason changed. I want to help them. They’ve been forced into this horrible situation that’s not their fault in any way.”

“This job is posted in many different guild halls,” the redhead stated. “They’ll get the help they need.”

“But _when?”_ Makoto demanded. “I don’t know how long ago the job was posted, but they’ve already been dealing with this for three years! Everyone has lost someone they loved. Friends, family—they executed the chief’s son because of this, for crying out loud! And now they’ve lost their homes. If things continue as they are, it doesn’t matter if qualified wizards come—there won’t be any villagers left to help!”

Erza seemed unable to respond to his outburst, so he continued in a lower voice. “I’m here _now._ I can help them _now._ Because we all came here, they finally have hope that their problem can be solved! How could I leave them at a time like this? So there’s absolutely no way I’m leaving, not now when I’m this close.”

Makoto stood tall, looking straight up into Erza’s eyes. “Do what you must. What does it matter that I’m not cleared for S-Class? I don’t care about the reward for the job or the consequences I have to face later, I just want to help these people! No matter what, I won’t regret my decision to help everyone get back to normal.”

Erza gritted her teeth. She was taken aback by the intensity of his gaze and the resolution they held. “You—!”

“My decision is the same.” Startled by the sudden intrusion, the wizards all shifted their glances to the entrance of the tent. Gray stood in the threshold, his missing shirt exposing the white bandages wrapped over his wounds. His serious expression was reminiscent of Makoto’s own.

“I heard everything from outside,” he said. “I’m staying here with Makoto.”

“Gray,” Erza said. Here was someone she was more used to ordering around. _“You_ were supposed to bring these troublemakers back.”

He walked straight up to her, unflinching. “Maybe I was, but circumstances have changed. I can’t leave with things as they are now. I’m not so heartless that I’d turn my back on doing what I know is right.”

Erza’s face darkened at his words. A sword appeared in her hand and she held it out in front of her. The sharp, metal tip hovered inches away from his chest. “You’ve chosen to defy the guild’s rules as well? You’ll suffer the same punishment.”

Gray took a step back from the weapon suddenly pointed at him. He stood there for a moment, frozen, but surprised everyone when he reached out and grabbed the blade tightly. Blood began trickling from his hand as he guided the tip until it rested on his chest, right on his Fairy Tail mark.

He stared hard at Erza. “This is personal for me. I gotta see this through to the end.”

Erza’s grip tightened considerably on her sword, but she made no other movements. Gray released the sword. The armored wizard remained still and only lowered her sword once Gray had made it to the entrance.

The Ice Wizard paused and looked at Makoto. “You coming?”

Makoto hesitated for a moment and glanced back at the tied-up Lucy and Happy, then to Maya whose tail still remained in Erza’s fist, to the scarlet wizard herself. He made up his mind and followed Gray out of the tent. “The only place I’m going with you right now is the medical tent. What were you thinking, grabbing her sword like that…?”

His voice faded away as the two headed for the medical tent so Gray could receive proper treatment for the slice on his hand. Erza didn’t move for a long time, staring at the entrance to the storage tent. Lucy and the cats kept quiet. The last thing they wanted to do was draw attention to themselves.

Erza spun around and faced the two who were tied up with an unreadable expression.

They both let out cries of shock. “Please don’t get mad at us!” Lucy begged. “We don’t have any control over them!”

“Yeah, Gray’s not himself because he lost a fight with his old friend, and Makoto is… Makoto’s…” Happy trailed off uncertainly. “I-I don’t know what Makoto’s deal is but it’s not our fault!”

“Mackie just wants to help people, yup yup!” Maya said. “That’s just who he is—you can’t blame him for that!”

Erza’s sword flashed out twice, faster than they could track with their eyes. Lucy and Happy flinched—and gaped as the ropes around them dropped to the ground in pieces. Maya let out a huff of surprise as her tail was released and she fell to the floor.

“These events are intolerable…” Erza murmured, an annoyed look on her face. “We’ll deal with the immediate problems for now.”

“Thank you!”

“This doesn’t change anything,” she snapped at her former prisoners before they got too excited. “You’re still going to face punishment.”

They all wilted. “…Yes ma’am.”

* * *

 

Within one of the many rooms of the Moon Temple, the Cold Emperor Lyon frowned disapprovingly. Of the three wizards he sent to eradicate the village, only one had returned. Not only that, they hadn’t fully succeeded in their mission—the village was gone but the people were still alive, and still capable of interfering with his plans.

“How pathetic,” Lyon sighed. “You’re the only one still standing, Toby.”

Toby gave a sad, rumbling growl of acknowledgment. A small bandage sat prominently on his forehead where he’d dealt with his self-inflicted injury.

Lyon sat down on the stone chair behind him. He was frustrated at the failure… but also somewhat intrigued. Yuka and Sherry were powerful wizards themselves, and for all three to be felled so easily… “Those Fairy Tail wizards… They’re quite impressive.”

Toby winced at the reminder of his battle. “Hey, can we keep that whole ‘shocking myself’ thing a secret?”

A new person entered the room—the short man in a cloak with a mask on. “This unfortunate turn of events could put the resurrection of Deliora at jeopardy.”

“Zalty,” Lyon said in greeting. “You’re stealthy as ever.”

“If all goes as planned, the demon should awake at some point tonight,” he reported. “But we have to keep an eye on those wizards. If they were to interrupt the Moon Drip ceremony, then Deliora would remain forever entombed in ice. Salamander and Titania are quite powerful. They could easily foil our plans.”

“As always, you seem remarkably well informed,” Lyon commented. He held his hand up, cold mist emanating from it. “No matter. I can’t say I’m worried. Those fools may be strong, but they are no match for me.”

“I was hoping you’d say that, so it’s very reassuring to hear,” Zalty said with a grin. He drew his right arm across his chest and gave a small bow. “But still, allow me the honor of joining you in battle—for old time’s sake.”

“Hold up!” Toby shouted in surprise. “I didn’t know _you_ were a wizard too!”

“Yes,” Zalty nodded. “It’s been a while since I’ve used it, but I’ve dabbled in a particular form of Lost Magic.”

“Sure,” Lyon said. “We could use another wizard.”

They were all suddenly distracted when the temple began rumbling violently. They glanced sharply at the ceiling as pebbles loosened and fell to the floor.

“AHH IT’S AN EARTHQUAKE!” Toby yelled. “IT’S ALL COMING DOWN!”

One of the minions ran into the room. “Cold Emperor, sir! The entire east side of the temple has been destroyed!”

Lyon stared blankly at him. _“What?”_

Toby jumped back in fear as a hole abruptly opened up in the ground next to him. The column of fire that caused it roared upwards, tearing another hole through the ceiling and continuing on its destructive path.

“What is the meaning of this?” Lyon demanded when the fire died down and the destruction of the room was clear for all to see.

Toby whimpered. He recognized that fire well. “Oh, we’re in trouble…”

“I should’ve known Salamander would make the first move,” Zalty remarked. He looked down the hole and spoke to Lyon. “It appears we have a visitor, sir.”

The two other wizards joined him around the hole. The fire had done a lot of damage. It was strong enough to reach the fifth floor, where they were, all the way from the first floor. A scarfed pink-haired Dragon Slayer stared back up at them, laughing maniacally.

“You know, I usually end up breaking stuff by accident.” Natsu’s smile faded for a more annoyed look. “It’s kinda funny how _hard_ it is when I’m trying to do it on purpose.”

“What are you doing here?” Lyon demanded.

“I’m knocking this place over!” Natsu declared. “Then you won’t be able to shine light on that demon you’ve got underground!”

“Insolent fool.” Lyon frowned. “Just who do you think you are?! You _dare_ challenge _me?!”_

Toby blinked in confusion. “Okay. Would someone explain what’s going on? I don’t get it.”

“It seems this boy has been on a destructive rampage through the temple,” Zalty explained. “I assume he destroyed many of the support pillars on the east side, causing the floors above to collapse. With all that rubble, moonlight won’t be able to shine through the temple properly, and thus no moonlight will directly shine on Deliora.”

An impressed grin formed on Zalty’s face. “It’s an ingenious plan. I’m actually quite surprised that dolt came up with it.”

Flames began shooting around Natsu’s feet, propelling him slightly into the air. “So are you gonna fight me or what?”

“Flames shoot from his feet?” Lyon questioned disbelievingly.

“When we fought that guy, he could shoot fire from all over his body,” Toby explained nervously.

Natsu increased the intensity of his flames, shooting himself up through the holes like a rocket. He headbutted Lyon straight in the stomach. A direct hit, he noted with a smirk. To his surprise, Lyon’s body began cracking and shattered into a million ice fragments.

Natsu grimaced as he realized he’d been duped. “What the—he’s fake?”

 _“Ice Make: Eagle!”_ Natsu turned his head to see the real Lyon launching a magic spell at him. The Cold Emperor smiled smugly at his opponent’s situation. “You can’t dodge them in midair.”

Doing what he did best, Natsu acted without much thought. He gathered flames in his mouth and let his attack loose on the ceiling. He hit the ground with more force than he would’ve but it got him out of the way of the attack in time. Recovering quickly, Natsu flipped into a handstand and fired fire streams from his feet.

Lyon ducked out of the way and growled. “What kind of ridiculous magic is this?!”

Natsu took in a deep breath, preparing his next spell. _“Fire Dragon’s Ro—_ AaAH!”

He let out a surprised yell as the ground beneath him suddenly gave way and he disappeared to the lower floor. Zalty lowered his hand and approached Lyon. “Very fortunate, Cold Emperor. Luck is on your side.”

A blackened Toby raised his hand. “Can we keep the whole ‘Toby got charred’ thing a secret, too?”

Lyon ignored him. “What did you do?” he demanded.

Zalty smiled innocently. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Lyon frowned. “Your magic had to have caused that hole in the floor.”

The shorter man chuckled. “Don’t you have ever the watchful eye? Please allow me to explain my actions, sir. You are the only one strong enough to defeat Deliora, so it’s imperative you remain safe until its resurrection.”

A cold mist formed around Lyon as the temperature plummeted. “Are you suggesting I could fall victim to such paltry magic?” Thick ice crawled across the floor, quickly scaling the walls and forming an icy arena. Lyon glared at the two wizards under his command. “Leave me. I can take care of this myself.”

Natsu clambered his way through the hole, grimacing from the fall.

“Once I finally defeat the demon, everyone will worship my name,” Lyon said. “Cold Emperor Lyon. I’ve worked too hard to let a brat like him tarnish it.”

Zalty grinned and left with Toby. “As you wish.”

Natsu pulled himself onto the floor and steadied himself on the slippery surface. “So you want to try to defeat Deliora?”

* * *

 

The rest of the Fairy Tail wizards were in the forest, running as fast as they could manage. Happy and Maya flew in the air right behind them. Once everyone was prepared, they realized that the one place Natsu would be was right in the heart of the enemy lair. They were heading to the temple to back him up, and Gray was summarizing Lyon’s motives for being on the island.

“That’s the reason Lyon wants to free Deliora,” Gray finished explaining. “He wants to kill the demon himself.”

“Are you serious?” Lucy asked. “He seriously wants to fight that demon?”

* * *

 

“The thing looks half-dead already!” Natsu shouted. “So let me get this straight. You’re going to all this trouble to melt that ice just so you can fight it? That’s pretty messed up if you ask me.”

A mist began forming around Lyon. “I must rise above Ur’s legacy. I will not rest until I’ve fulfilled my dream!”

Lyon thrust his hand forward and launched his magic attack. Natsu backflipped to avoid the eagle-shaped icicles heading his way. “Why go this far?!” he demanded while the barrage continued. “Can’t you just challenge her and be done with it?!”

“Well I would if I could, but Ur has been dead for years!” Lyon retorted.

…

 _“The woman who taught me how to use my magic—my master, Ur—sacrificed_ everything _to seal it away.”_

…

A small gasped escaped Natsu as he finally realized the true depth of Gray’s words. “I didn’t realize she ended up dying when she sealed it.”

“Yes, but she’d still be alive if it wasn’t for Gray!” Lyon shouted. Channeling his magic to a specific spot, he forced an eagle-shaped icicle to form behind Natsu. The Dragon Slayer turned just in time to be hit head on by the spell.

A thick cloud of ice arose from the collision. Once it faded, Natsu lowered the arm he’d thrown up for protection. “Look, I don’t know what happened to you in the past,” he started. “But I _do_ know what you’re doing in the present. And it’s hurting a lot of innocent people. And since you don’t seem to realize that yourself…”

Natsu’s hands burst into flames. “I’m going to have to _knock_ some sense into ya!”

* * *

 

“Even back when we were kids, Lyon’s always dreamed of surpassing Ur’s magic ability,” Gray told his friends while he rested momentarily. His wounds still ached and he couldn’t reach the temple without a break. “But since she’s gone and he can’t challenge her directly, he’s decided that it’s up to _him_ to kill Deliora, ‘cause it’s the one thing she couldn’t do.”

“Well, yeah…” Lucy murmured in understanding. “I guess that’s the only way to challenge someone who’s dead.”

“I suppose…” Makoto frowned. “But can’t he see that other innocent people are being affected by this? I just… don’t get why he’d go so far.”

“Listen…” Everyone turned to Gray as he spoke again. He narrowed his eyes, thinking hard about whatever was on his mind. “There’s something… Something I never got to tell him. I kept it secret. Ur made me promise to never let him know. But I have to.” Gray clenched his fist and faced his fellow wizards.

“Ur may not be with us, but she’s still alive.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again, everyone!
> 
> Sorry for the delays with this chapter. I swear that for at least 3 collective weeks, I wanted to work on it but I’ve been majorly busy with schoolwork. Other than that, I have no excuse. I’ve been a lazy, unmotivated lump of flesh and you may scold my negligence of this story as much as you see fit.
> 
> So DR3 has been over for like forever, that's wild. Gonna lift the whole "no spoilers in comments" thing, feel free to talk about DR3 to your heart's content.
> 
> ALSO IDK IF YOU GUYS KNOW?? But I’m writing another story as well (Ik Ik, terrible decision). Anyway it’s called Seven Seas of Despair, it’s a pure DR story Pirate AU where Makoto finds a pirate crew and they’re fighting bad guys and swashbuckling shenanigans ensue. Also eventual Naegiri. Also the other characters don’t take 20 years to appear :P
> 
> My plan is that, if I don’t feel up for writing FTUH but I do want to write something, that ‘something’ will be SS of Despair anyway so I might as well post it and feel productive. Don’t expect consistent updates on that either though. As with FTUH, updates will be logged on my tumblr (trimaplenut . tumblr . com / fanficstories)
> 
> ALSO AND THEN MAPLE GOT BRACES. no fizzy drinks. no sweets. struggles to chew. much ache :(
> 
> Keep smiling, readers! And have a merry Hopemas!


	15. Eternal Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten years ago, Ur makes a sacrifice.

“The truth is… Ur’s still alive.”

Makoto blinked, taken aback by the information. His decision to stay behind at the village had led to him missing out on key events and knowledge, but Lucy had filled him in when she arrived before the attack. That was how he learned of Gray’s past with Lyon. New info was brought to the table by Gray’s reveal of his old friend’s plans, that he was freeing the demon to kill it—the one thing Ur could not do. Lyon was doing it because he couldn’t challenge Ur. She was dead. That was the absolute truth that everything linked back to.

And yet, Gray completely turned it on its head. Ur had been alive from the start. But it still didn’t make sense to Makoto. Gray said that Ur was gone, that she sacrificed _everything_ in order to seal Deliora in a block of ice, all of that would seem to indicate she was dead…

But Gray had never actually _used_ the word ‘dead’ when talking about Ur.

Erza was the one who broke the silence. “What do you mean?”

Gray let out a heavy sigh and threaded his fingers through his short hair. He looked as though he was wrestling with something internally. Makoto’s ears picked up his whisper of a voice, heard him mumble, “Ten years…” under his breath. After several more seconds passed, he raised his head and met their eyes. “I grew up in a town called Isvan.”

“I think I’ve heard of it,” Maya spoke up. “That’s near the Northern Continent border, right? I didn’t think you were from so far away, Gray.”

He offered her a grim smile that quickly disappeared. “When I was a child, Deliora attacked my hometown. I’ve… never seen so much destruction. The whole place was wiped out in less than a day.”

Makoto felt something get stuck in his throat. “The whole town… in a _day?_ Were… Did anyone survive?”

Gray shook his head slowly. “No… It was only me, and even then I was lucky. Ur and Lyon were just passing by when they found me. They pulled me from the rubble of my house. We spent the morning searching for survivors, but we didn’t find anything. There was a large field overlooking the ruins of Isvan…” He took a deep breath and let it out. “By the time the sun set, there was a gravestone for everyone who lived there.”

Lucy covered her mouth in horror. “Oh, Gray…”

The wizard gave a half-hearted shrug. “It was a long time ago.”

But Makoto knew the look in his eyes. He recognized it, in fact. How could he not when it was the same pained look he saw in his own, staring in the bathroom mirror after a particularly terrible nightmare?

“But that day, I felt so much anger and rage inside me. I swore that I’d kill Deliora myself to avenge my parents and everyone I knew.” Gray looked off to the side, his eyes slightly unfocused from remembrance. “And that vow… is how it all began.”

…

_Ten years prior…_

The walk from the cabin to the depths of the wilderness was long and hard, especially for Gray’s child-sized legs. He wasn’t used to such a trek. He’d never left Isvan before and the coldest day he remembered only contained about two inches of snow. The mountains he was in now were covered in snow all year round, or so he was told. He gulped in the cold air and breathed out condensation.

His brand new magic teacher kept her back to him and asked, “Are you going to be able to keep up, Gray?” Ur turned and smiled at him. “I warned you, training with me can be tough.”

Gray took a few more breaths before giving her a determined look. “Yeah… But I’ll do whatever it takes!” He clenched his small hands into fists and imagined them driving the demon of his past into the ground. “I have to become stronger than Deliora! ‘Cause someday, I’m gonna beat him!”

Lyon watched him in disbelief from the sidelines. Did he really not remember the wreckage of his hometown? “Yeah right…”

Seeing that Gray had recovered, Ur turned to her two students. “Okay, let’s get started.”

Gray’s face grew serious. “Fine. Ready when you are.”

This was the first step toward his life’s goal, to getting revenge on Deliora. Ur had promised him powerful magic and he needed to master it. Then he’d be strong enough to take on the demon. It all started here, in the snowy depths of the mountains, and—was Ur _naked?_

He almost fell to the ground from shock. “Whoa! What are you doing?”

She placed her hands on her bare hips, dressed in only her undergarments. The smile on Ur’s face was undeniably smug. “The first step is to strip.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Gray shouted. “You must be crazy if you think I’m stripping in the snow! Back me up, Lyon!”

He turned to the other boy, hoping for some kind of support, but Lyon was just as clothed as Ur was.

“Now you’re naked too?!”

Lyon rolled his eyes and casually grinned with amusement. “Just hurry up and do it, kid. Come on!” His smile became a little more challenging. “You wanna learn magic, right?”

Yeah, he did, but not while huddled in the snow in his boxers! He had a thick coat on and he was already cold! Still, it was obvious there wasn’t going to be any kind of lesson until he gave in to their absurd demands. He grumbled and reached for the shoulders of his coat. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this! This better not be some kind of joke!”

Ur’s amused expression never faded. “Atta boy, Gray. If you really want to control the cold, you have to become one with it. You’ll get used to it soon.”

“I-I already h-have!” Lyon declared, ignoring his blatant trembles.

Gray looked unimpressed. “Y-You’re shivering j-just as much a-as I am…”

“Let’s go, boys!” Ur commanded. Without even waiting for them, she jogged off through the snow, disturbing the white powder as she ran.

Gray gaped. First they stripped and now they were running in the cold freezing snow?! What sort of lesson was this?! “I thought you were gonna teach me magic!”

“Just run!” Lyon shouted, already trailing behind Ur. “I don’t wanna do this beginner stuff either!”

Gray grumbled, lamenting the loss of his coat as it sat in a pile with the other clothes. He forced his legs to start moving. He didn’t get the stripping and the running, but he could perhaps understand why they were training in the snow. After all, it was the type of magic Ur knew.

…

_“I practice Maker Magic,” Ur explained in her cabin’s living room. Gray kept his gaze fixed on the ice she had conjured in her hand, shaped to mimic a real-life rose. He tried to keep his bored expression but he couldn’t completely hide the awe he felt. “Out of all the magical arts, I feel this one gives you the most creative freedom. In fact, every wizard who practices Maker Magic has their own unique style.”_

_Placing the rose on the table, she put her two hands together and crafted a translucent vase. The surface of it was covered in small flower etchings. Ur picked up the rose and lowered it into the vase, the ice tinkling musically as it settled._

_“If you train hard…” She looked at him and a warm smile graced her face, as if she had seen something breathtaking. “Then someday, you’ll create a style all your own.”_

* * *

 

_In town…_

“Who’s the dark-haired boy? You pick up another student?”

Ur looked over the apple in her hand briefly. “Yeah, his name’s Gray. He’s a rebel and doesn’t want to do what he’s told.” Amusement bled into her voice at the end of her sentence.

“The other boy’s named Lyon, right?” the grocer checked. The eponymous owner of the small shop, a woman called Jove, laughed and smiled. “I bet when those two grow up they’re gonna be quite the lookers.”

Ur glanced at her through one eye. “You think so?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, reaching for Ur’s requested fruit and placing them in a brown paper bag. “In fact, would you mind saving one of them for me?”

The wizard let out a snort. Without even turning around, she could imagine Lyon’s lively spirit mixing with Gray’s broody, sour attitude. She bit into the apple. The crunch it made was likely an accurate prediction of how that clash would turn out. If they did start fighting, she’d have to ice them and lecture them about their actions. Again.

“If you want _those_ little headaches, you’re welcome to them.”

“You know… You’re not going to have much luck with the men in town if they think you’ve got kids.” Jove pointed out.

A bark of a laugh escaped Ur. She slid forward some jewel. “I don’t need _romantic advice.”_

“You’re not getting any younger, Ur. And you _deserve_ to be happy.” Jove handed her the paper bags, giving her a slightly pleading look. “Promise you’ll give it a little thought?”

Ur shot her a skeptical look. She thought the statement strange, but Jove was a good friend with a good heart and decent advice, so she simply replied, “Yeah, sure,” and headed back towards her students.

Lyon sat on a small stone wall near Jove’s Fruit, swinging his legs a little. He stared at the sky and spoke to the boy standing next to him. “Tell me something. How long do you think it’s gonna take us to become stronger than Ur?”

“How the heck should I know?” Gray answered dryly. He hoped his uninterested response would discourage him from further conversation.

Lyon didn’t pick up on the hint. Or if he did, he kept talking anyway. “She’s the best wizard around. But my dream is to someday be even better than she is,” he confessed.

Gray sighed. “Can’t stop running your mouth, can you? Do you really think I care about that?”

Lyon frowned at him, eyebrows close together in confusion. “Why are you so grumpy all the time?”

“Because you’re all _master this_ and _master that,”_ Gray griped. “It’s bugging me.”

Lyon remained quiet for a short while before turning his gaze ahead. Ur was caught up again as Jove spoke to her. It was too far to hear their conversation clearly but Ur looked a little annoyed at whatever the stall owner was saying. “She told me she decided to teach you because she sees some kind of darkness inside of you.”

“Well, she’s probably right, especially after everything I’ve been through.”

“She wants to help you get rid of it,” Lyon told him.

“I’ll do that on my own. Just watch.”

Lyon let out a sigh and pouted at him. He was too moody to be able to talk to, no matter how many times Lyon tried. He always retorted with dry, snappy remarks.

Gray looked down at his hand and formed a fist. “Right now, all I care about is getting revenge on Deliora. And once I’ve learned enough magic, I’m so out of here. Bye bye, Ice Witch—Oooomph!”

Gray instinctively covered his aching head with his fingers. Ur stood over him, her hand curled in a fist, her eyes cold and angry. Evidently, she’d overheard his complaining.

“Keep talking about me like that and you’re dead meat, kid!” she snarled.

“I’m sorry!” Gray apologized, more to avoid another punishment than actually regretting his words. She rolled her eyes and hefted her shopping bag to a more comfortable position. With their groceries collected, they headed down the path leading out of town so they could return to Ur’s mountain cabin.

Gray shoved his hands into his pockets. The plan for the afternoon was to head into the mountains again and work on controlling the size and shape of ice they created. It was the same basic stuff they’d been working on all week. Gray was beginning to feel impatient, and his impatience took control of his mouth. “So when are you going to start teaching us some powerful magic?”

“I already have,” Ur pointed out.

“I’m not talking about that Maker Magic stuff,” Gray argued. “As far as I can tell, that junk’s completely useless.”

Ur stopped dead in her tracks, and that’s when Gray knew he’d spoken too honestly. She fixed him with her steely gaze and Gray looked away.

“Look me in the eyes.” He didn’t move and her voice gained a slight warning edge. _“Gray.”_

Once he did, Ur spoke calmly but sternly. “I told you—Maker Magic gives you creative freedom. Once you’re able to create your own style, you can make it as powerful as you want.”

Gray gave an irritated huff. “You keep saying the same thing over and over again.”

Ur glanced over her shoulder, determined to get her point across—and nearly had an aneurysm. _“Gray,_ we’re in _public!_ Put your clothes back on!”

Gray paused and glanced down, finally realizing that his shirt and pants were gone. He was standing in the middle of town in his boxers. He let out a startled scream and, in his panic, turned his embarrassment into anger and directed it at his teacher. “Now I have this weird habit ‘cause of you!”

Ur bashed him on the head. “Don’t you blame it on me!”

Lyon laughed, as did several townsfolk who’d noticed the commotion. Ur grimaced at the attention and the uncomfortable warmth rising to her face. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Okay…” a dazed Gray mumbled.

When they were finally on the path back to the cabin and far from town, Ur let out a tired sigh. “That was embarrassing…”

Lyon beamed. “And hilarious!”

Gray fumed. “Shut up, brown-noser.”

“You shut up, streaker!”

Gray scowled and hunched his shoulders, bringing the paper bag he was holding closer to his face. Their hasty getaway had been interrupted when Ur suddenly recalled the numerous other items they had yet to buy. From then until they left town, Ur wouldn’t meet anyone’s eye and Gray remained completely silent. Lyon, the smug unaffected bystander, just wouldn’t stop smiling the entire time.

A boar-pulled wagon gradually approached them, heading towards the town. Ur and Lyon dismissed it, and Gray would’ve too, if he hadn’t heard a certain name from the men inside.

“Have you heard any news about Deliora’s whereabouts?”

“Yeah, I heard it made its way to the Northern Continent. Somewhere around Brago.”

“I hope they don’t end up suffering the same fate as Isvan.”

The paper bag slipped from Gray’s arms.

Ur and Lyon turned at the sound and looked at him with confusion. They hadn’t heard the men in the wagon. “What’s wrong?” Ur asked.

Gray didn’t hear them. His mind was still reeling. “That’s where it is… In Brago…”

* * *

 

“No way!” Ur yelled. She had to yell in order to be heard over the snowstorm raging outside. Gray had been mysteriously silent since that afternoon, but when he suddenly marched out the door at night with a backpack and that deadly expression, she knew exactly what he was planning. “Deliora is out of your league, Gray! It’ll kill you! _Don’t go!”_

“Beg all you want, you’re not going to change my mind!” Gray stopped in the snow and ground his teeth. He whirled around and screamed, “Don’t you understand?! That demon took my mom and dad away from me! I _have_ to get revenge!”

“Leave and you’re no longer my student.”

“Fine!” Gray retorted without missing a beat. “I’m better off without you.”

“Don’t go…” Lyon small whisper was drowned out by the vicious winds.

“And if that thing kills me, it’ll be your fault!” Gray shouted without turning. “You should have taught me _real_ magic!”

Ur watched as the child disappeared into the snowstorm. She let out a disgruntled sigh. “Great…”

…

_Present day…_

“That must be it…” Makoto murmured to himself as he ran. Through the gaps in the trees, Makoto could make out the gray stones of a tall construct. Built at the highest peak of the island, it had to be the Temple of the Moon.

Far beneath its floors was the demon Deliora, sealed away in ice by Gray’s teacher. Based on Gray’s description of its power and the fact that Ur had to resort to such a method to defeat it… it was an understatement to say it’d be bad if they let Lyon and his people revive it.

Demon, death, destruction… It actually reminded him a lot of the Eisenwald incident in Clover. Lullaby had been hell-bent on wreaking havoc and destroying anything that stood in its path or otherwise, and it sounded like Deliora had been much the same. Makoto wondered if there was any sort of connection between the two demons. One of the guildmasters had said that Lullaby was Living Magic, a result of a wizard named Zeref—perhaps Deliora had a similar or the same origin?

Regardless of where it came from, it made a lasting impression wherever it went. Makoto wished there was something more he could do for Gray, but he knew all too well the effects trauma could have. Lucy told him about how the Ice Wizard reacted when they first discovered Deliora, so it was clear that the pain had not healed with time.

Makoto hadn’t met him in person, but Lyon would understand that feeling, right? He also saw Deliora’s destruction for himself, lost the same teacher Gray had… He had to see that freeing Deliora would mean unleashing its wrath on the villagers. And who was to say it’d stop there? It could move on to the mainland once it was finished on Galuna. That would mean everyone in Fairy Tail, Magnolia, and beyond were in danger. If Makoto could just talk to Lyon, convince him _not_ to go through with his plan…

But what if he already knew the risks from the start?

He still had to try. They had to make Lyon see reason. And if Lyon respected Ur so much that surpassing her abilities was his life goal—that he was willing to melt the ice to challenge the beast—then if Gray could tell him the truth about Ur, then maybe…

“Mackie! Wait a sec!”

“Huh—Gah! Maya!” A weight crashed into the back of his head and he pitched forward. He just barely stopped from landing on his face by placing his hands on the ground. Makoto stood up again and plucked the cat from behind him. “What’s up?” he asked once he could see her.

Maya pointed behind him and bluntly said, “No one’s following you.”

He blinked and looked to where she was pointing, realizing that he was indeed alone. His companions were a small distance away, staring up at the shape of the temple in the distance. He walked back over to them. “Is there something wrong?”

Lucy was the one who gave him a response. “It is just me or does the temple look more like a ruin?”

Makoto glanced back over his shoulder. If the temple was built to look like a pyramid, then it didn’t resemble one now. The entire left side of it had collapsed and appeared more like a rock slide, and the lack of support also caused the summit to cave in. The temple certainly looked like it had seen better days. But this _was_ the first time he was seeing it, so it wasn’t like he had a point of reference.

“You made it sound like it’s an old building,” he eventually said. “Maybe it just… fell apart?”

The blonde squinted and tilted her head as if it would improve her vision. “It was a lot more intact when we saw it last night.”

“What happened to it?” Happy wondered aloud.

Gray voiced his opinions without a second thought. “I’m guessing Natsu.”

“Me too,” Erza concurred.

“I can see him being behind this,” Makoto admitted. Natsu definitely had a lax understanding of common sense. “But why destroy the temple? You said that demon was frozen underground, right?”

“With all the rubble in the way, the moonlight won’t make it to Deliora,” Gray explained. His expression changed to a reluctantly impressed one. “It’s a pretty great idea if he did it on purpose.”

“You mean his habit of destroying stuff actually came in useful for once?” Lucy asked.

“It’s been useful before!” Maya called out.

She gave the cat a skeptical look. “Oh yeah? When?”

The tabby froze. “Uh… Um… W-Well, it could be useful again in the future, yup yup!”

Lucy opened her mouth to deliver some sarcastic comment on how likely _that_ would be—when Makoto grabbed onto her wrist. She was about to instinctively snatch it away, but the way his eyes darted to the trees made her stop.

“Shh…” he hushed everyone. His friends fell silent and still. Makoto focused all his attention on the sounds of their surroundings. He was certain there was something he heard, something that just seemed out of place. If whatever was out there could see him, no doubt they were being cautious now that they knew he was onto them. And so Makoto waited, body tense, his senses straining to see or hear what was coming before it—

A shrill sound and a shiny glint in the trees. “Get down!” he yelled. Makoto snatched up Maya in his arms and pulled Lucy down to the ground. Something whistled sharply just above their heads before they heard numerous thudding sounds behind them. Makoto opened his eyes just to see Erza and Gray dodge the last of the sharp, metallic boomerangs thrown at them.

The redhead glared at the bushes to the left of the path. “Who’s there?!” she demanded.

Emerging not only from those bushes but also from in front and behind were a large group of people dressed in dark purple cloaks and white masks. “We’ve tracked you down, Fairy Tail!” one of them shouted.

“We won’t allow you to interfere!” another yelled.

Gray grimaced at their appearance. “Not these guys…”

“Are they with Lyon?” Makoto asked, helping Lucy up and holding Maya close to him. The question was a little redundant though, considering there weren’t many alternative answers.

“They’re all around us!” Lucy shouted.

Erza held her hand out in front of her, undaunted by their situation. “I can handle this myself.”

A bright light flashed in her hand as her Requip Magic activated. The light changed until it formed a shape and shattered to reveal a sword.

Gray looked at her. “You sure?”

She didn’t even glance back. “I’ll take care of them. You go and settle things with Lyon.”

Gray blinked in surprise at her words. Back in the village, she had been so stubborn and adamant about leaving immediately and how they had no business here. And yet…

Makoto smiled and let out a small laugh as he noticed the same thing. “Don’t worry about Erza, we’ll back her up.” He stood beside the scarlet wizard and enveloped his fist in stone. He pounded it into the open palm of his other hand.

Lucy slipped her whip off of her belt hook and pulled it tight. “You just go and do what you’ve gotta do.”

The two flying cats cheered in their own acknowledgment, ready to aid their fellow wizards in the upcoming fight.

A small smile twitched across Gray’s face. “Thanks, you guys.”

In tandem, they all charged at the minions blocking the way to the temple. With one goal in mind, the wizards forced them apart, leaving the path open for Gray to make his escape. The last he heard of the action behind him was Lyon’s lackeys shouting at his departure and his friends continuing their assault. He left them behind with no regrets. Even though they were new, Makoto could fight on par with Natsu and even Lucy had proven her strength in their short time with the guild. And Erza… well, she was Erza. And with Happy and Maya to provide aerial support, the question was less ‘could they manage it’ and more ‘how long would it take them’.

Now, with that matter taken care of, there was one thing Gray had to focus on and accomplish.

“I gotta tell Lyon that Ur is still alive. The only person who can stop him… is me.”

…

_Ten years prior…_

The dark of the night made it almost impossible to spot the demon’s massive form. The stars and moon did little to help with visibility, obscured by the blanket of smoke rising from the destroyed city. Ironically, it was the scattered fires that provided the most light, illuminating the demon’s legs but leaving its head shrouded in black.

Then the beast’s mouth glowed with a blinding green light and the sudden brightness was no blessing.

_“Ice Make… Rose Garden!”_

A flash of blue, brilliant enough to combat the demon’s light, accompanied the shout and massive ice pillars formed at a breakneck pace. The structures were made up entirely of ice roses—beautiful, perfectly sculptured, and deceptively deadly. The ice spread rapidly, creeping up the demon’s body and forcing its head to the sky.

But the attack was too powerful and its range too massive. Even with its direction changed, the destructive beam fired through the remains of the city and into the outskirts. Wherever the beam touched, a large column of fire exploded from the ground.

Released from its prison, Deliora let out a roar and continued its rampage as the city burned around it.

Ur let out a shuddering breath and let her ice shield shatter. She hadn’t been fighting it long and she was already exhausted. And ‘fighting’ was a generous word—the most she had been able to do was hold it in place and distract it while the citizens who were stuck in the ruins evacuated. With everyone out of the city, she could let loose with everything she had, but she couldn’t even scratch the demon.

“I can’t keep this up…” she murmured to herself. Ur wiped her arm against her forehead, collecting blood and sweat on her jacket sleeve. “I’m using too much magic energy…”

She couldn’t stop now though. Her gaze turned behind to where her two students lay prone on the ground. For the moment, Deliora had lost interest in them, but it could spot them and they would be defenseless without her magic.

A terrified shout grabbed Ur’s attention immediately. It was Gray, his fear letting itself be loudly known the moment he regained consciousness. Then he registered where he was and the gargantuan form of the demon in the darkness. His screams doubled in volume and terror.

Something warm and comforting enveloped him and it took him several long seconds to realize it was his teacher and his yells quieted into whimpers.

“It’s okay,” she whispered soothingly. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

Gray’s voice shook just as much as his body. “Y-You’re here, Ur. B-But why…?”

She pulled away slightly and rested her hands on his shoulders. “Listen, I want you to grab Lyon and get out of here. I can’t concentrate on fighting if I have to protect you.”

Gray’s eyes darted around until they finally landed on the unconscious form of Lyon. “O-Oh no!”

She gave him a reassuring smile. “He’s fine. Just out cold.”

Gray shuffled his feet for a moment, watching her hesitantly, before picking his way over the rubble to Lyon. Ur watched him before directing a steely glare towards Deliora’s retreating form. There was no way around it—she _had_ to fight the demon. Even if it was stronger, even if it killed her, this was one fight she could not afford to step away from.

“Get going,” she said, taking those first steps toward the demon and the fight of her life. With the boys out of the way, the only thing she’d have to focus on during the battle would be her own well-being. And then Deliora would feel the true extent of her wrath.

“Wait!” Gray shouted after her. “Why’d you come after me? I thought I wasn’t your student anymore!”

His words made her stop. Ur took a moment to gather her thoughts together before speaking. “A friend said something recently that made me think. She told me I deserved to be happy.” A small laugh escaped her. “Which shocked me because I’ve never thought of myself as _un_ happy.”

“She just doesn’t understand.” Ur shook her head and tilted it over her shoulder. Her eyes full of warmth and love, she stared at the young boys she taught. “I have two adorable little students that I spend each day with and watch them grow into men. What more could I want? I don’t think there’s anything in the world that could make me happier.”

The woman shifted her stance, causing her leg to catch the light from a nearby fire and reflect it. The beam shone right in Gray’s eye and distracted him, drew his attention and made him question it. Her other leg hadn’t done a similar thing, why would this one—?

A gasp escaped him when he saw the truth. “Ur, your leg!” he cried, a lump forming in his throat. It was gone. Her leg was _gone_ with her trousers torn just below where her knee should be and in its place was a vaguely shaped block of ice.

“Oh, you noticed?” she asked with a knowing tone and a faint laugh. “I lost the real one, but this’ll do for now.” Her words changed his focus from her leg to her face. Ur gave him a smile. “My Maker Magic came in handy.”

Tears fell for every drop of guilt that grew inside him, but Gray found himself unable to say anything.

“I vowed I would free you from the darkness within you,” she continued. “And if that means I have to fight this demon, so be it. Now get out of here and let me do this.”

“No, I’m not leaving you!” Gray screamed. “It’s _my fault_ all of this happened!”

His teacher started her walk again. Her ice prosthetic made a clink each time it hit the stone pathway. “No one’s at fault,” she corrected calmly. “This is just something we have to go through in order to be happy again.”

“…Wait, Ur…”

The whisper cut through the silence left by their conversation. Both turned their attention as Lyon stumbled away from Gray and towards the woman.

She blinked in surprise at his sudden awakening. “I thought you were unconscious. I need you and Gray to—”

“You’re gonna defeat it, right?” he interrupted. He looked at her with a shaky grin and wide eyes. “You’re talking like you’re… not going to make it…”

“Let her go—”

“Shut up!” Lyon screamed at Gray before immediately turning back to Ur. “You can beat that thing no problem! You’re the strongest wizard alive—that demon’s no match for you!”

At his words, Ur gave a tired smile. “Lyon… How many times have I told you? There’s always someone better.”

Lyon’s grin wavered. “But that can’t be true…”

“In the western countries, there are lots of wizards who are more powerful than me.”

The white-haired boy shook his head fiercely. “No, that’s not true. I-It’s not, ‘cause you’re the strongest! If you aren’t… then why have I been training with you all this time…?”

“One day you’ll surpass me,” she told him. “And when that day comes I hope you’ll move on to a loftier goal.”

Lyon’s shoulders trembled. “I studied with you because I thought you were the best there was. If you let that monster defeat you, you’ll prove me wrong.” He glared up at her with tears in his eyes. “Ur! Don’t betray me!”

A tense silence ensued and Ur struggled to think of the words to say. “Lyon, I—”

He didn’t even listen. He pushed past her, running down the path until he was in a clear spot. Facing the direction of the distant Deliora, Lyon thrust his arms forward—right crossing over his left. “If you’re not going to give it your all, I’m going to have to do it myself!”

Ur let out a gasp. “Lyon, that stance! Where’d you learn that?!”

“Where, you ask…?” Lyon glowed with a blinding blue light as his magic activated. “Since you don’t want to teach us powerful magic yourself, I went to the storehouse and read all your magic books! You hid spells like the Iced Shell from me because you were scared! That’s why, isn’t it?!”

“Did you even bother to read that book all the way through?!” Ur shouted. “Do you know what happens to the spellcaster?!”

Gray looked between the two with worry. “Will he be okay?”

Ur’s focus was entirely on the white-haired boy. “I asked you a question! Answer me, Lyon!”

He completely ignored her and pushed the spell further along. In response, it let out a brilliant shine, magic energy crackling around him.

“Please, you can’t do this!” Gray yelled.

Ur’s heart sank when Deliora turned around. This was the worst thing that could happen. “No, it noticed us!”

Lyon grinned as the demon moved closer. “I know magic is too weak to kill Deliora. But if I cast the Iced Shell spell I can seal it in ice for eternity!”

The boy blinked as a strange feeling overtook his body. That wasn’t part of the—

The next moment, he was completely encased in a flower-shaped block of ice. The light of the Iced Shell spell faded as its caster lost his focus on it.

Ur lowered her hand and got up from her crouch. “Sorry, but I’m not going to let you do that.”

Gray frowned at her. “But Ur, why is it bad?” he asked.

“When that spell is used, the caster’s body becomes the Iced Shell itself,” Ur explained. She bit her lip, thoughts racing at a mile per second—before she sighed. “He’s right though. That’s the only way Deliora can be stopped. I never would’ve imagined Lyon would come up with the same idea I had.”

Gray blinked as Ur began walking towards the massive Deliora. “Hey wait, where are you going?”

An aura of magic energy flared to life around her. “I must’ve taught him well.”

“Ur!”

“Stay back!” she commanded. Taking a deep breath, she focused her magic and took on the stance to cast Iced Shell. Compared to Lyon’s small magic reserves, her immense power raced through the spell. The sheer force of the magic broke apart the ground around her. A magic circle appeared above Deliora’s head. Its basic instincts kicked in and it tried to get away, but more magic circles formed around it and trapped it in place.

“I won’t ever let you hurt my students again! This is the end of the line, you _monster!”_ Ur shouted with a snarl on her face. _“Absolute Freeze: Iced Shell!”_

She uncrossed her arms and held them out, releasing the built-up spell in a burst of light. The light shot out in beams to the magic circles. They disappeared and the spell began to take effect on Deliora. Ice began to form on its chest and extremities.

“Ur, no!” Gray shouted.

A crack split across Ur’s face, changing her right eye to a glassy ice blue.

_“Please!”_ he begged. “Don’t do it!”

Ur’s voice was barely at normal speaking level, but Gray could still hear every word she said. “It’s a sacrifice I have to make in order to save the two of you. My body will become the ice that will seal the demon Deliora for eternity.”

She paused for a moment and then continued. “Gray, promise me this one thing. Please, tell Lyon I died. If he found out I had been turned to ice, he’d probably waste his entire life trying to find a way to undo the spell—and that would make my sacrifice meaningless.”

_“Stop!”_

“I want Lyon to see the world, live a full life. And Gray…” A smile crossed her face. “I want the same for you.”

Tears streamed down Gray’s face. This wasn’t what he wanted. This wasn’t _at all_ what he wanted! Because of his mistake, his teacher was going to—!

“I’m beggin’ you!” he cried. His voice cracked. “Please don’t do this! I promise I’ll do whatever you tell me to from now on!”

The ice finished forming around Deliora. The light from Ur’s magic began to die down. “There’s no reason to be sad. I’ll live on. Please don’t cry. I may not be with you, but I will protect you from Deliora.” Ur turned to Gray and offered him a smile, even as her body shattered to pieces. “Be strong. Make me proud.”

_“URRRRRRRRRRRRR!”_

Gray collapsed to the ground, face buried in the sleeves of his coat. A wind picked up, blowing away the last sparkling fragments of Ur. As the wind rushed past his ear, he thought he could hear Ur’s whisper.

_“I freed you from the darkness, Gray.”_ In his mind, he saw an image of Ur in the snow—smiling, walking away, her hand waving in farewell. _“I’ve sealed it away forever.”_

And as the sun rose, light glittering against Ur’s ice in a deceptively beautiful way, her words kept repeating in Gray’s mind. ‘I’ve sealed it away’. Was she only talking about the demon? Inside, he felt distraught and upset and terrible but he also felt… lighter. Ur’s sacrifice had brought him great pain and sorrow, but they were different than the negative emotions with Deliora at its source… All that anger and rage he’d kept bottled up inside for months, close to a year, just disappeared.

Ur had done so much for him—gave him magic, gave him safety, gave him a home. The entire way, he had been ill-tempered and difficult. How could he make it up to her now?

_“Be strong. Make me proud.”_

Those words resonated within him and he came to a decision. He’d live his life by those words. Be strong for Ur. Become someone she would be proud of. Master his Maker Magic, become the best wizard he could. That was what she wanted, her last wish. For him—for _both_ of them—to live life to the fullest.

He could only hope Lyon would be able to take it.

When Ur vanished, so did the ice imprisoning her second student. He remained unconscious, however, so all Gray could do was sit nearby and deal with his grief.

It didn’t take too long. He started waiting at dawn and it was early morning by the time Lyon finally let out a groan. “Ow… What’d she do to me…?”

He slowly climbed to his feet and rubbed at his eyes. Lyon almost fell over again when he realized the giant blue thing in front of him was _not_ a stubborn blur of his imagination, but Deliora frozen in ice.

“Ah… That’s Deliora!” Lyon’s head whipped around until he settled on the hunched figure of Gray. “How did it happen?! Did Ur cast the spell? Did she?!” he demanded. “Where is she now? Tell me!”

Gray’s heart clenched at the question. The tremors wracking his small body increased. This was the other thing he’d been agonizing over. He had to honor his teacher’s wishes, and that meant lying to Lyon.

“She…” He hiccupped and squeezed his eyes shut. He had to do it. For Ur. “She’s dead…”

Lyon didn’t move for a moment. Gray couldn’t see his face, but he could imagine the boy staring at him disbelievingly as if expecting him to announce it was a joke, that Ur would walk around the corner and laugh at their cruel joke and everything would be normal.

But reality was much crueler and Gray said nothing more.

“No… NOOOOOO!”

Lyon crashed into him from the front, sending his back and shoulders into the ground. Gray’s head smacked against rock and his vision went fuzzy for a moment. When the only blur remaining was the one caused by his tears, he got a full view of Lyon’s face, twisted by anguish and outrage.

“You jerk!” he screamed. “How will I surpass her now?! She’s dead, and so is my dream! Because of _you!”_

Ur had said no one was at fault, but Gray couldn’t deny that it was _his_ selfish actions that led him to Deliora, that brought Ur to Brago, and ultimately to her sacrifice. “I-I’m sorry…!” he choked out.

“That’s not good enough!” Lyon shouted back. “It won’t bring her back! You killed my dream!” He let go of Gray’s shirt suddenly and slowly got to his feet. “If you hadn’t challenged Deliora, this wouldn’t have happened!”

Lyon took several sharp breaths to control his tears and glared down at Gray. His voice was flat and yet full of hatred. “It’s your fault she’s dead. You’re to blame. You killed Master Ur.”

…

_Present day…_

Ignorant to the approaching Fairy Tail cavalry, the fight between Natsu and Lyon continued in the temple with no clear winners in sight. Natsu rubbed his fist against the corner of his mouth. His sandals provided little grip on the icy floor of the arena and his face had greeted it personally many times.

“This could go on forever, so do yourself a favor and give up,” Natsu said.

“I would never give you that satisfaction,” Lyon retorted.

Natsu’s fist erupted into flames and a smirk crossed his face. “Then you’re asking for it.”

A chilly fog formed around Lyon. His expression didn’t change besides a ghost of a smug smile. “Oh, am I now?”

Their concentration was shattered as the ice wall next to them cracked. A murmur of, “What the…?” escaped Natsu’s lips just before the ice completely broke. A familiar bandaged wizard stood behind it. “Gray…?”

The Ice Wizard walked into the room and stood right between Natsu and Lyon. “Leave him to me. It’s time we settled things once and for all.”

Natsu gaped. “No way, man! You already lost to him once!”

“And it’s not going to happen again,” Gray replied without pause. “I’m ready to end this _now.”_

“You seem awfully confident,” his fellow Ice Wizard commented.

“You were right, Lyon,” Gray admitted. _“I’m_ the one who’s to blame for our master’s death.”

He took a moment to prepare himself before spreading his feet apart. “But you’re no better. You’ve threatened my comrades, brought harm to the villagers, and now you’re trying to destroy what Ur gave her life to create. It’s time we accept our punishment.” He crossed his arms over each other. _“Together.”_

Lyon paled as he recognized what he was doing. “That stance…! Not the Iced Shell!”

Natsu blinked at the familiar name. Where had he heard it before…?

…

_“My master, Ur, cast the spell called Iced Shell on this demon and gave_ everything _to seal it away forever.” Gray clenched his fist and looked down._

…

_“I’d fight her if I could, but Ur’s been dead for many years!” Lyon retorted._

…

The Fire Wizard froze as everything came crashing together in his mind. The Iced Shell, Ur’s death… And now Gray was about to cast the same thing.

“Are you insane?” Lyon shouted. “You wouldn’t dare!”

Gray ignored his words. “If you want to live, change the villagers back to their human forms! And then leave this island and never return!”

He began to focus his magic, guiding it along the starting stages of the casting. “If you’ll agree to that, I’ll stop. Otherwise, this is the end.”

“That so?” Lyon raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “Well I don’t believe a word of it. You’re bluffing.”

Gray narrowed his eyes and magic energy flared to life around him. “No I’m not.”

“You’ll die!” Lyon shouted.

He threw his hand out in front of him, summoning forth ice birds to attack. The shockwaves generated from the Iced Shell spell were too powerful, however, and the attack backfired on him.

“Don’t do it…!” Natsu yelled, shielding his eyes from the growing light.

“All these years I’ve lied to myself. I didn’t want to admit that Ur died because of me!” Gray took a breath and let it out. “But she did, and it’s time I took responsibility. So I will, here and now! I’m not afraid to die, if that’s what it takes!”

“Stop this now!”

Gray scowled at Lyon’s yells. His face started to crack but he took no notice. “What’s it going to be, Lyon?! Are we gonna die, or are we gonna live?! It’s up to you!”

“You wouldn’t! You’re not brave enough to give your life!” Lyon taunted. “You’re nothing but a coward!”

“Just watch me.”

Natsu grimaced. The pressure in the room was building and building still, but he could tell that the spell was going to be complete soon, and from there Gray could only hold back from casting it for so long. He was really going to go through with this?! “I said don’t do it, Gray!”

At his guildmate’s voice, Gray closed his eyes and thought about everyone in Fairy Tail. Natsu, Erza, Makoto, Lucy, Gramps, Mira… Everyone. He didn’t want to leave them. It was the last thing he wanted to do. But there were no other options now. Lyon had to be stopped. It was up to him to make that decision, to live or to die.

And time was up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not crying youre crying
> 
> Speaking of crying, Fairy Tail geography officially makes me want to die. Measurements, man. And locations outside of Fiore would be nice. Like where the fuck is this 'Northern Continent'? Who the hell would call it the 'Northern Continent' and not some proper name? And no, it's not necessary for me to know these things for a fact. But it would be nice to. Especially because once I start thinking about it, I needlessly obsess over it until I arrive at some sort of answer.
> 
> The chapter jumps around a bit between past, present, and locations, but I tried to make it clear. Apologies if it got confusing at any point. As a general rule, ellipses tend to mean jumps in time and line breaks mean a jump in location. Generally. I try to stick to that rule.
> 
> I've resolved to make no more promises with updates, I am terrible at keeping them and I just feel worse when it passes by whatever vague date I promised. The inconsistent updates are just going to be par for the course for this story, and I apologise, but I don't think there's any changing that. I really appreciate you guys' patience tho. Thanks for sticking with me.
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


	16. Showdown on Galuna Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fairy Tail wizards race against the clock to stop Lyon and his people from reviving the destructive demon Deliora.

 

“You wouldn’t! You’re not brave enough to give your life!” Lyon taunted. “You’re nothing but a coward!”

“Just watch me.”

Natsu grimaced, shielding his face from the wind and light. The pressure in the room was building and building still, but he could tell that the spell was going to be complete soon. Gray could probably hold back from casting it for a while once he built up enough power, but not forever. That energy had to go _somewhere_ eventually. Was he really going to go through with it?! “I said don’t do it, Gray!”

Gray closed his eyes. Memories of Fairy Tail flashed through his mind, summoned by the sound of his guildmate’s voice. Growing up with Natsu and Erza, guided and loved by Makarov, even the small amount of time spent with Makoto and Lucy… He didn’t want to leave them. He didn’t want to leave _anyone._ It was the last thing he wanted to do.

But there were no other options now. Lyon had to be stopped. They couldn’t allow Deliora to be awakened, no matter what. The destruction would be endless, and the demon unstoppable.

So Gray gave him an ultimatum. A simple demand—abandon his plans of resurrection and leave the island forever. Otherwise, Gray would cast his spell, turning his body into indestructible ice and sealing Lyon within. For all intents and purposes, it was a choice between life and death.

Lyon believed his threat to be a mere bluff. He’d show him _exactly_ how much of a bluff it was.

Time was up.

_“Iced She—!”_

“SHUT UP!”

A solid thwack echoed in the ice-encased room. The immense magic energy building in the room dissipated, aimless without a source to focus it together.

Gray stumbled, just barely keeping his balance. He placed a surprised hand on his throbbing cheek and then stared up at the one who’d interrupted him. “Natsu…”

The Fire Wizard was preoccupied for a moment, blowing on his arm and shaking it wildly. Pins and needles tingled beneath his skin and certain parts, especially his knuckles, felt so cold they _burned._ There were consequences to getting that close to a powerful ice spell, after all.

He soon regained the feeling in his arm and sneered at Gray. “You can’t just bust in and steal the scene with a bunch of fancy talk! Get to the back of the line, pal!”

Gray stared at him a little longer. “Wha… Back of _what_ line?!” he demanded.

Natsu’s lips curled into a smug grin and he pointed to himself. “I was here first, so it’s my fight.”

“What?!” Gray shouted in disbelief. “When I got here, the first words out of my mouth were ‘Leave him to me’!”

“Yeah, and I said ‘No way, man’ like a second after that!” Natsu retorted.

 _“Why you…!”_ Gray growled.

Natsu grinned. “What? You want some?”

Gray grabbed him by the scarf and yanked him close, glaring into his eyes from mere inches away. “I don’t care who said what, I’ve got a score to settle with him, you understand?! And I’m ready to _die_ if that’s what I gotta do!”

A hand shot out and grasped his forearm with such intensity that it trembled slightly from the force.

“Yeah?” Natsu’s face switched from childish teasing to deadly serious in a heartbeat. “And how’s _dying_ gonna settle it? ‘Cause it sounds like you’re _running away_ to me.”

Gray couldn’t stop the small gasp that escaped him, as if it’d been physically forced from his lungs. Natsu’s words hit home. He couldn’t say anything to argue against him. Until Natsu had pointed it out, Gray hadn’t realized how true the accusation was.

They were both forced to break eye contact when the temple started rumbling and shaking. Natsu regained his balance first and let out a frustrated growl. “Gah, what _now?!”_

* * *

 

“Do not falter!” one of Lyon’s lackeys cried, an old woman by the sound of her voice. “We must strike down all who oppose the Cold Emperor!”

All of the minions let out battle cries and charged the group of wizards. Erza met them first, mowing them down with her sword as she ran past. She requipped a spear and knocked away several of the boomerangs the lackeys were using as swords. Her hands danced up and down the length of the spear to adjust for reach or power.

Lucy’s whip flashed all over the place. It found its targets with consistent accuracy and either left them with stinging marks on their body or tripped them up at their feet. She flicked her wrist and the end of the whip wrapped around one person’s arm. She pulled and yanked them into the path of their comrade who’d been charging at her with their weapon held high. They collided and fell to the ground in a heap.

Makoto stayed nearby, ready to back her up if too many tried to swarm her. His stone-encased fists were great for deflecting their sharp weaponry and smacking them away when they wouldn’t get the message—though most of his attention was on defending rather than attacking.

The cats were heavily involved in the action as well. Happy flew high, pelting the enemy with various fruits and vegetables—god knows where he found those in plentiful supply. Maya went low, weaving in between the feet of the minions, confusing them when she zipped by and generally trying to trip them.

Abruptly, the combat was interrupted when a deep rumbling sound thundered from nearby.

Erza paused, her body tense and ready to leap back into action. Her grip on her spear tightened. “What’s that sound?”

Lucy turned, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound—and froze when her eyes landed on the temple ruins. Though, it was probably more accurate to simply label it as the temple. Somehow, it looked good as new, exactly the way she remembered it the first time they found it! “No way!”

“The temple just completely fixed itself!” Happy gasped.

“But how?” Maya put a paw to her mouth and mumbled under her breath, “We should get the guild hall to do that.”

Makoto’s mouth hung open in shock. He couldn’t think of any explanation for how the wreckage of the temple was suddenly restored—which probably meant it was due to magic of some kind, right? Someone inside the temple—likely working for Lyon because he doubted this was the result of the Ice Wizard—had magic powerful enough to repair the temple in a few seconds. What else could they do with that power? There was a chance that Gray would run into them, and that would delay him from stopping Lyon and Deliora’s revival. That wasn’t something they could risk.

“Makoto? Where are you going?” Lucy called when she saw him attempt to make his way past the enemy in the direction of the temple.

“Someone inside there managed to undo Natsu’s damage, and that was really the only thing stopping them from getting moonlight,” Makoto stopped briefly to explain. “I don’t think it was Lyon or those three from last night, though. If they get in Gray’s way, we could be in big trouble, so I’m going to help! You can handle it here, right?”

There was a flap of wings and Maya was in the air above everyone’s heads, already heading his way. “I’ll go with—!”

“I want you to stay here with the others,” he interrupted. Part of him was hesitant to do so, conscious that this would be the first time they’d be separated during a battle, but a bigger part knew she’d be safer here. These people weren’t too tough and he could count on Lucy and Erza to look after her. Makoto didn’t even know whether he’d do well or poorly against this unknown wizard, but it was certain he’d struggle if he had to keep an eye on the tabby.

Maya hovered in the air and frowned at him. Her preference was obviously still to go along with him, but she wasn’t making any other moves to follow. He took that as her answer to respect his wishes.

Erza defended herself against another attack and mulled over Makoto’s words. While she agreed to let Gray take care of business with his old friend, she wouldn’t hesitate to go support him if she felt it necessary. The situation had changed with this unknown factor present in the temple. And though they still hadn’t met up with Natsu, he was unarguably inside as well. A part of her wanted to go herself and make sure the boys were okay.

But Makoto had already made his mind up about going, and arguing over who went would only delay them longer, so she gave him a firm nod. “Very well. I’ll leave it in your hands.”

“Right!” Makoto nodded back. He ducked under a sword swipe, braced his hands against the ground, and knocked the attacker’s feet out from under them, sending them to the ground. With his final obstacle out of the way, he made a break for it, running down the path to the temple.

* * *

 

Natsu pounded against the ice, the floors, the walls—anywhere his fists would reach. From their position within the temple, it was difficult to tell exactly what was going on, but any damage that had been inflicted on the stone of the temple was undone. Even the hole that Natsu created getting up into the room was completely fixed. And considering how long and intense the rumbling was, it wasn’t a stretch to assume the healing had occurred elsewhere.

Which meant that all his effort had gone to waste! He was really proud of that plan!

“This is bad,” Gray grimaced while the Fire Wizard went on his screaming rampage. He’d come to the same conclusion—and without the destruction Natsu had caused to the temple, there wasn’t anything hindering the Moon Drip ceremony from continuing come night time. “Now the moon’s going to shine on Deliora.”

“Pardon the interruption.”

The three wizards in the room turned to stare at the newcomer—the man with the mask, Zalty—as he ran over to stand by Lyon’s side.

Lyon narrowed his eyes. “I should’ve known. I take it you did this?”

“Indeed I did, sir,” the short man answered cheerfully. “The moon will be out soon, so I thought I’d take the liberty of restoring the temple for you.”

“That weirdo fixed it all by himself?” Gray asked, a little doubtful.

“And after I went to all that trouble to mess it up, too,” Natsu grumbled, his irritation growing. He prided himself on his power, and somehow this guy undid all his destruction in a matter of seconds? He raised his voice and said, “Hey, so what’d you do to fix it, huh?”

Zalty looked over like he only noticed the Fairy Tail wizards’ presence for the first time. They stared at each other for a bit. And then he let out a booming, mocking laugh.

Natsu’s irritation levels rose a little higher. _“Tell me how you did it, you jerk!”_

Zalty dismissed him entirely and continued speaking to Lyon. “Now that everything else is in order, I suppose I should commence the Moon Drip ceremony.”

The Dragon Slayer’s rage exploded. “WOULD YOU QUIT IGNORING ME YOU DEMON-HEAD FREAK!”

Zalty laughed again, running for the exit before Natsu could grab him. Natsu let out a ferocious growl and chased after him. “GET BACK HERE!”

“Natsu!” Gray shouted at him.

Natsu stopped just before the exit and grounded his teeth. “I’m gonna pound him a million—no, a _billion_ times!” Natsu turned his head and made eye contact with the Ice Wizard. “I’ll let you handle that ice guy!”

Gray blinked from his sudden change of attitude. For how predictable it was for the Dragon Slayer to get distracted, it still surprised him after how much of a fuss he’d put up previously. Gray nodded in understanding.

“It’ll look bad if you lose again,” Natsu commented.

“Yeah.”

“And not just for you.”

“I know what you mean.”

They shared a grin in understanding. “But for all of Fairy Tail.”

With that, Natsu dashed out of the room to hunt down Zalty. His furious shouts gradually faded until they could no longer hear them.

“My, my,” Lyon finally spoke up. “What a boisterous pair you are.”

“Tell me something,” Gray said. “A second ago, when I was going to freeze us both for good, you were counting on Natsu to stop me before I could finish, right?”

“No,” Lyon shook his head. “The opposite, in fact. I never thought he’d be foolish enough to come near a spell like that.”

Neither did Gray, but he supposed only Natsu would dare risk doing something that stupid. Gray furrowed his brows by what Lyon’s words meant. “So you were just going to stand there and take the hit?”

“Exactly. Because _someone_ would come to rescue me. _You,_ on the other hand, would be finished for good,” he pointed out. “Certainly it would be inconvenient to be sealed in ice, but my allies are as devoted to my cause as I am. And as long as we’re on this island, they could use Moon Drip to melt the ice whenever they saw fit.”

Gray looked at the ground. A feeling of shame welled up inside as he realized how hasty his actions were. “I… didn’t think of that. Guess the Iced Shell is completely useless here.”

Lyon scoffed at his phrasing. “Yet you still want to fight? After what happened last time? Don’t fool yourself, you could never—”

“That’s enough.”

“…What?”

“Just forget about Deliora,” Gray clarified.

Lyon’s face twisted. “What kind of nonsense is this?” he demanded. “Your threats don’t work so you turn to begging? Does your guild have a dentist that removes your fangs, or are you just a coward?”

Gray ignored his jibes. “Lyon, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Lyon frowned but decided to humor him. “What is it?”

“Ur is still alive.”

Lyon’s expression went completely blank. He didn’t move a muscle.

“The Iced Shell doesn’t kill its caster,” Gray explained. His voice was steady and clear, finally relieving himself of the burden of knowledge. “It uses their body to form the barrier. The ice keeping Deliora sealed away—which you’ve been trying to melt—is actually Master Ur. She isn’t dead. She lives on as that ice.”

Gray chewed his lip and let out a sigh. “I’m sorry that I never told you the truth back then. Ur made me promise to keep quiet.”

…

_“If he found out I’d been turned to ice, he’d probably waste his entire life trying to find a way to undo the spell.”_

…

How ironic, Gray thought, that even without the truth of the Iced Shell, Lyon still obsessed over the ice, trying to melt it by whatever means necessary.

“…Of course,” Lyon muttered quietly.

Gray approached him slowly. “It’s over. There’s no reason to go through with this anymo—”

Gray cut himself off with a strangled gasp, followed by coughed up blood. His hands twitched toward his abdomen where someone held the handle of a sword. An ice sword that pierced out the other side of him. Gray raised his head and met Lyon’s twisted grin.

“You idiot. I know how the spell words,” Lyon laughed mockingly. He pulled the sword out, slick with Gray’s blood, and the Fairy Tail wizard collapsed to the floor. “I can assure you she’s not alive anymore. That’s nothing more than a chunk of ice!”

Gray grasped at his wound in a feeble attempt to stop the blood or ease the pain. “Y-You knew…” he breathed harshly. “You k-knew all along…?”

“Knowing is one thing, believing is another,” Lyon sneered at him. “And if you truly believe Ur is alive in there, you’re an even greater fool than I thought.”

Gray gritted his teeth. The burning pain was quickly being replaced by a different type of fire. Rage flared up inside him as he glared at his former peer. “You knew the truth… and yet… you still did this…!”

Lyon looked down at him. “And what of it?”

The Cold Emperor was completely unprepared for the fist that flew at his face. The force behind it was strong enough to launch him into the far wall of the ice arena.

“Impossible!” Lyon pulled himself out of the indent created in the wall and stared wide-eyed. “How can you move with that wound?!”

 _“I’ve had enough!”_ Gray snarled. He breathed heavily and spoke in a calmer voice, no less serious. “I wanted… to save you. But I give up now.”

“You want the title of star pupil for yourself?” Lyon shrugged. “Well I’m sorry, but I have to fight against Deliora soon and I’d rather not waste my magic energy on you.”

“Then we’ll just use our fists,” Gray replied easily.

Lyon raised an eyebrow. “You want me to fight you without using magic? That’s fine by me.”

Gray charged at him, rearing his fist back to punch him again. Lyon moved before he could land his hit though. Pain exploded when Lyon kneed him right where he’d stabbed him earlier.

“Aim for your opponent’s weak spot and hit it with all you’ve got!” Lyon grinned and mocked him. “Ur taught us that, remember?”

“You have no right to speak her name!” Gray snarled. “And I _won’t let you!”_

He threw another punch but Lyon easily dodged again. Gray nearly choked on something in his throat when Lyon landed another blow to his stomach. The thought of their last fight came back to him, of how easily and thoroughly he’d been beaten. He hissed in pain and tried to focus. Gray wouldn’t let it end the same way again.

* * *

 

Deep in the woods, Makoto peeked around his hiding place behind a tree. The plan of breaking away to get to the temple seemed simple at first, but he wasn’t expecting there to be so many people guarding the perimeter. It was going to be impossible to get into the temple without being spotted. There was just way too many of them. He’d be overwhelmed by himself.

The first time he decides to leave her behind and it turns out Maya’s power of flight would be useful. His luck continued to amaze him.

Fighting wasn’t an option either. He didn’t _want_ fighting to be an option. The people in the woods earlier had attacked him and his friends, they had to fight back to defend themselves and give Gray an opening to run. But this—this would be a choice to do so. Even disregarding the issue of numbers, it didn’t sit right with him to actively attack them, and if he didn’t have to, he wasn’t going to.

Besides, there was an idea in his mind that he’d been considering. Something had nagged at him since Gray explained the events leading up to the plan to revive Deliora. It was clear now why Lyon was doing something like this.

What _wasn’t_ clear was why all these people were following him. Lyon’s motives behind his plan were incredibly personal—but how would the others benefit? If Makoto could understand _that_ , maybe there was a better solution to this whole mess. Sometimes you just need a different perspective to find an answer. Consider other possibilities.

Perhaps it was a little optimistic for his abilities, but, well, that was his best quality, right? He’d made Moka see that acting rashly would be foolish, after all. He could pull it off. It was better than trying to beat them all into submission.

“Hey. You’re one of the Fairy Tail wizards, aren’t you?”

…He hoped his hypothetical solution was going to work better than his idea to sit in one spot right next to the enemy base. Makoto rose to his feet slowly in order to make it clear he wasn’t going to jump them—asking for answers would be difficult if they started swinging sharp pieces of metal at him. Except he was surprised to see he recognized the two people before him.

“You’re the wizards who attacked the village,” he remarked with surprise. Sherry, the pink-haired puppeteer who Lucy fought and Erza eventually defeated, and the blue-haired man, one of the two Natsu took on. Both of them still looked exhausted from their earlier defeats, but Makoto felt that wouldn’t mean they’d let him go free.

“I’m going to _love_ getting even with you, Fairy Tail wizard,” Sherry commented, twirling one of her ponytails around her finger.

Yuka’s mouth twitched upwards. “You’d better prepare yourself for a world of hurt.”

* * *

 

This wasn’t going as well as he thought, Gray idly thought as his body endured blow after blow from his foe. No matter what kind of angle he went from, he simply couldn’t land a blow on him. Lyon kept going for his wound every chance he got, which only made it ache more and made it more difficult for Gray to move the way he wanted to.

He didn’t want to admit it… but he was reaching his limit. His back smarted from Lyon’s latest blow that sent him straight through the wall of ice and into the stone behind. His various old injuries stung, not fully healed from his last bout against Lyon, and the stab wound was agony.

…

_“Get up!”_

…

Gray’s head jerked up. Just then, a voice had echoed through his mind. It was Natsu’s voice, from before, when he demanded Gray stand after the first time Lyon beat him. But now that he thought about it, that wasn’t the first time he’d heard his guildmate use those words—Natsu also said it once, years ago, during a spar they had. It stood out in his mind from their many other spars because _Natsu_ was the one on the ground beaten, not Gray. But the kid wizard still pulled himself to his feet, covered in bruises, still picking a fight.

He’d never admit it, but Natsu had really impressed him that day.

Lyon panted a little for breath and saw that his opponent was in a crumpled heap and not moving. Lyon smirked. “That settles it… You’re no match for me after all…”

“Hold on…” Gray’s protest froze him in his tracks. Using the wall behind him, Gray pushed himself back to his feet. A weak grin crossed his face and he near echoed the words Natsu once spoke years ago. “This fight’s not over just yet.”

Lyon let out a frustrated growl and charged at him. “I should’ve killed you when I had the chance!”

Gray yelled and both of their punches landed. Their clenched fists pushed against each other’s faces, fighting to overpower the other. Eventually, one of them won the stalemate—and it was Gray, following through hard enough to throw Lyon back into the wall. A taste of his own medicine.

Gray stood up tall, his confidence boosted from his successful attack. “You’re gonna have to step up your game if you wanna beat me!”

Lyon flew out of the dust and struck a blow against him. Gray stumbled but recovered quickly, drawing strength from his second wind. “I didn’t give up against Natsu and I won’t against you!”

He punctuated his declaration with a harsh headbutt. The two traded blows, back and forth, a rhythm almost developing in their attacks. The hits Gray took were powerful and dealt without mercy, but he didn’t let it stop him. If anything, each hit only drove him on, taking the force and channeling it into his counter.

Several minutes went by without them realizing. They’d forced some distance between each other and were using the brief separation to recover their strength. Lyon dragged himself to his feet. He was unable to stand up straight under his own power and used the walls to aid him. “The Cold Emperor… defeated in battle by the likes of you…? I won’t stand for it.”

Gray narrowed his eyes. “Then get over here and fight.”

Lyon continued the fight, all right—but he did so by holding his hand out. _“Ice Make: Snow Dragon!”_

The living ice serpent roared and flew at Gray, snatching him up between its jaws. Gray cried out in pain as the sharp, painfully cold ice dug into his injured side. He brought his elbow down on it to shatter it and he tumbled along the floor.

Gray placed his hand on his wound to prevent it from bleeding more. “I thought we agreed not to use magic, Lyon.”

“Don’t be such a sore loser,” Lyon retorted. “This duel was pointless from the start—Deliora will be revived either way. Alas, it’s far too late to stop me now.”

Gray struggled to get to his feet from the renewed pain. The blows from Lyon were one thing, but the dragon’s fangs pierced the skin again, bringing forth even more blood. “I won’t… stop trying…”

Lyon reached up to the clasp on his cloak and tossed the regal white fabric away. “Try all you want, but Zalty is preparing to start the Moon Drip ceremony as we speak.”

“Natsu won’t let him…”

Lyon reacted to his words with surprise. Gray watched his expression change and smirked. “Trust me, the second you underestimate that guy is the second you lose.”

* * *

 

Deep beneath the temple, Zalty watched the demon Deliora sealed within its prison. Night had finally fallen, which meant it was only a matter of time before the ceremony would be completed. “At long last…” he muttered with a grin.

“There you are!” Zalty blinked behind his mask and turned to see Natsu charging at him with a fiery fist. “I’ll burn that grin off your face!”

Natsu swung down but only hit the rock below, cracking the surface. Zalty landed safely on a nearby rock, an island in the lake created from the melted ice.

“Must’ve taken you a while to come up with that one,” Zalty snidely remarked. “By the way, how did you manage to find me?”

“I followed my nose, that’s all.” Natsu had followed down the masked man once, in the temple, but he’d vanished as soon as he located him. The Dragon Slayer had to trust his sense of smell after that, which led him down underground.

Natsu’s nose wrinkled up. “For some reason, you totally reek of lady’s perfume.”

Zalty let out an amused laugh. “I would love to stay and chat,” he continued, changing the subject, “but I’ve got more important things to do right now. Like reviving Deliora.”

Natsu scoffed loudly and smiled. “Heh, just forget about that. It’s not going to happen, okay?”

Zalty raised an eyebrow behind his mask at his casual tone. “Really? And why is that, pray tell?”

Natsu threw his arm out and pointed at him. “Because Gray’s gonna kick that ice guy’s butt. And any minute now, I’m gonna kick _your_ butt. Like a _billion_ times. And then this’ll all be over.”

“We’ll just have to see about that…” Zalty grinned and faced the frozen demon. Natsu did the same and his eyes widened tremendously. A small but undeniably purple stream of light was seeping through a magic circle in the ceiling.

“That’s… moonlight!” Natsu gasped. “There are people up there doing the ceremony _right now?!”_

“Only one person,” Zalty corrected, “which means the Moon Drip isn’t terribly powerful right now. However, that’s hardly a concern since we’ve already gathered plenty of moonlight. We just need to give it a little _nudge_ to finish the job.”

Coinciding with Zalty’s words, a large chunk of ice broke away and slid off the monolithic ice. Streams of water began dripping down and adding to the lake at the bottom of the cavern.

 _“Ohhhhhh_ this can’t be good!” Natsu screamed. “Deliora’s ice is melting like crazy! I gotta go stop that guy before things get ugly!”

Natsu turned back the way he came, but before he could make it more than a few steps, a large boulder crashed in his path. Natsu stopped and turned back to Zalty who smugly stood on his perch with an arm raised.

“Sorry, but you’re not going anywhere! Looks like chasing after me was a mistake, Salamander.” He gave Natsu a smile. “Better luck next time, eh?”

* * *

 

_“Wave!”_

_“Rock Doll,_ get him!”

Yuka aimed with his two fingers and fired a blue magic beam at Makoto. He already knew that trying to block it wouldn’t end well. Last time he tried, the beam exploded on contact and his rock fists did nothing to protect him. He jumped to the left to avoid it but in doing so he put himself right in the path of Sherry’s puppet.

The thing was only tall enough to reach his waist, but when it crashed into him it dragged him down with its weight alone. It pressed down on both his shoulders, effectively pinning him to the ground. Makoto struggled to push it off of him but he wasn’t making much headway. He had to think of something quick, before Yuka could attack again or Sherry could give the doll another command.

He stretched his neck and bit into the stone arm holding his left shoulder. The puppet let out a little shriek as its arm suddenly crumbled and the rest of it followed suit once Makoto prepared an Earth Dragon’s Seismic Fist.

Makoto got to his feet and crunched down on the rocks still in his mouth. His magic swelled temporarily and he focused the energy towards his chest. _“Earth Dragon’s Roar!”_

His two opponents barely got out of the way of the attack. Yuka regarded him with caution. “I’ve heard of Salamander, but I wasn’t aware Fairy Tail had two Dragon Slayers.”

“What does that matter?” Makoto asked. “Look, you’re both exhausted. Please, stop fighting! You’re going to make yourselves worse!”

“And let you interfere with our plans? You can forget it,” Yuka retorted. “Not when we’re inches away from our goal.”

“Why do you even want to revive Deliora?” Makoto questioned. “I know what Lyon’s reason is, but what do you gain from all this?”

“Don’t pretend you _love_ us enough to care. Even if we tell you, we all know you’re just going to keep opposing us anyway,” Sherry pointed out.

“Only because how you’re going about this isn’t right,” Makoto argued. “There’s gotta be a better way than—”

“There _is_ no better way!” Sherry interrupted furiously. “This is the _only_ way! The Cold Emperor will kill the beast! We’ll finally be able to get our revenge!”

“Revenge? On Deliora?” Makoto blinked. The first thing that came to mind as a reason for that was… “Are you from Brago?”

“No,” Yuka answered, a tad calmer than Sherry, but talking about it clearly brought some of his own anger to the surface. “Some of the others are, though. But we’re all here because that _monster_ destroyed everything we cared about.”

Makoto frowned. “Deliora is sealed away in ice,” he reminded them. “It’s not going to hurt anyone ever again.”

“That’s not the point!” Sherry scowled. “It doesn’t matter whether it’ll hurt anyone in the future, it already hurt us. We don’t want it sealed, we want it _dead.”_

They couldn’t see it, the consequences of their actions. “If you melt that ice, it could go on a rampage again, for who knows how long until somebody stops it. Would you really risk that?”

“The Cold Emperor will kill it.”

“But what if he can’t?”

“He _will.”_

“That’s not an answer. You’re letting your anger blind you!” Makoto accused. “Revenge isn’t the answer! All it’s doing is bringing more suffering!” Images flashed through his mind of Bobo’s gravestone, of the village ruins, of the villagers that first night they arrived… Something caught in Makoto’s throat as he thought about everything they had been through. For this. For their revenge. “Can’t… you see it? The pain you’re causing the villagers…? The same pain you felt?”

Yuka furrowed his brows. “What do you mean? Our situations are nothing alike.”

They both looked confused, unaware of how big of an effect their actions had on the people who lived on Galuna. So Makoto began to explain.

“The village’s peace and safety has been threatened every day because of a curse. Everyone worries about whether the curse will affect someone close to them, turn them crazy and dangerous. All they can do is kill their loved ones to protect themselves.” He paused for a moment. “And that curse? It started affecting them three years ago—the same time you arrived and started gathering moonlight.”

The two wizards glanced at each other unsurely. “But…” Sherry tried to argue. “That demon…”

“I know you believe what you’re doing is right…” Makoto interrupted, “but as a result of your actions, others are being forced to go through that same pain you felt because of Deliora. That same loss. Their families. Their friends. Their home.”

That finally seemed to render them speechless. Makoto quietly asked, “Is that the justice you’re searching for?”

* * *

 

_“Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”_

Zalty hopped backward out of the way of the attack. He grinned and taunted, “Are you sure you want to do that? Using your Fire Magic at a time like this might make the ice that’s sealing Deliora melt faster!”

He was caught off guard when Natsu immediately turned and kicked at him again, his flames burning brighter and larger. Zalty barely dodged the attack, briefly being obscured by the cloud of dust kicked up from the strike.

Natsu glared at him. “If it could be melted by Fire Magic, you wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. Bluff all you want, but once I’m done here, all I gotta do is stop the Moon Drip and it’s game over.”

Zalty hummed, a little impressed. “I must say, I took you for a fool. But when push comes to shove, it seems you’re surprisingly clever, Salamander!”

As they continued their fight, the Moon Drip rained down on Deliora’s prison unimpeded. Another large chunk of ice broke off and slipped off, crashing down into the water hard enough to cause the ground itself to shake.

* * *

 

Gray frowned. Even several floors up in the temple, the tremors could be felt. “I got a bad feeling that ain’t Natsu…”

Lyon smirked. “The ceremony is finally reaching completion. The ice sealing Deliora has begun to melt away.”

Gray felt his breath catch in his throat. “Ur…” That was his teacher Lyon was talking about—the woman who taught him, raised him, _loved_ him, and he couldn’t stop what was happening to the remaining piece of her left in the world.

“There’s nothing you can do,” Lyon taunted. “It’s too late to stop me. You and your friends have failed!”

He held out his hand, gathering his magic to cast a new Ice Make spell.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for this moment, Gray?” Lyon asked rhetorically. “Since I saw you last I’ve been gathering knowledge and allies who will aid me. I was fortunate enough to discover this place, an island where you can collect the light of the moon—Galuna.”

Lyon released the spell and an endless barrage of ice birds soared towards his opponent. Gray gritted his teeth as he endured several blows from the magic constructs.

“It wasn’t an easy task transporting Deliora from Brago, and the Moon Drip’s taken three years!”

Gray erected a shield to protect himself from the birds and growled. “You’ve been wasting your time on this stupid plan for _three years?!”_

Lyon froze at the word. “Stupid?!” His magic grew until it created an aura around him. “How _dare_ you say that?! You’ve spent the last _ten_ years in some foolish guild piddling your life away!”

Lyon poured all his fury into his magic and created a massive bird that was sure to crush his foe. Gray jumped to the side and let it crash into the temple floor.

“Because _I_ put my faith in what Ur told me!” Gray snapped back.

…

_“In the western countries, there are plenty of wizards more powerful than me.”_

…

“So I _went_ west,” Gray said, “and eventually made it to Fairy Tail. And she was right! The guild was so full of powerful wizards that I couldn’t believe it!”

…

_A slightly younger Makarov placed his hand on his chin. “I don’t think I can help you. The Iced Shell is based on the will of its caster. And because that will is absolute, a third party cannot melt the ice, no matter what magic they use.”_

_“No way!” Gray gasped. “You’re telling me even with all the strong wizards you got, you can’t break the spell?”_

_“Hmm… Actually, now that I think about it, there may be a way.” At the enthusiastic look that grew on the child’s face, Makarov backpedaled. “A-Ah, on second thought, that’s not a good idea.” Gray looked crestfallen with the answer, and so the old man explained, “If you were to melt the ice, I’m afraid it would be no different than killing your master.”_

…

Gray thought for a moment and said, “I didn’t know it at the time, but I bet the old man was thinking about Moon Drip when he said that. After everything Ur did for us, you’d kill her without giving it a second thought.” He scowled. “You make me sick.”

“Say what you will, I don’t care,” Lyon replied dismissively. “My entire life has led up to this moment. Our master is long dead! If we want to prove we have surpassed her, what can we do in her absence? Think, Gray! There’s only one answer!”

Mist gathered around his hand and solidified, creating a lion’s head complete with sharp pointed teeth. He lashed out at Gray, a manic grin on his face. _“Deliora!_ I will surpass our master by defeating what she could not!”

“Well, I admit that’s a pretty ambitious plan,” Gray said as he avoided his strikes. “But I can’t help thinking you’ve missed the point somewhere along the way!”

Gray created a sword out of his own ice and sliced through the lion’s head. “Someone as blind as you could _never_ be better than Ur! Not in a hundred years! Wake up, Lyon!”

Gray sliced again across Lyon’s stomach. The attack was meant to incapacitate him, so he was shocked when Lyon crumbled to ice.

Lyon grinned from his position behind him. “Fooled you, didn’t I? _Ice Make: Snow Tiger!”_

Gray looked up calmly at the giant animal bearing down on him. He jumped up to avoid its claws and backflipped. _“Ice Make: Prison!_ ”

The snow tiger crashed into the bars that suddenly formed in front of it. Gray got back to his feet and stared down at his opponent. “You see this, Lyon? This is what you are. A beast in a cage, lashing out at a world he barely knows.”

“Utter nonsense!” Lyon shouted. He held his hand out and took command of his ice creation. “I’ll make quick work of that spell of yours!”

The tiger snarled and bashed its head against the bars. It slashed at them and charged at them and chewed them.

But the cage held strong.

Lyon gaped, unable to comprehend why he couldn’t break free. He was stronger than Gray! He’d always beaten him!

Gray hopped down from the top of the cage and barely gave the tiger a second glance. “Singlehanded spellcasting is too unbalanced,” he recited. It was one lesson he had seen Ur give Lyon over and over again, clearly to no effect. “Your creations will let you down when you need them the most.”

Gray held his arms up, focusing his magic. A flurry formed in the air above his shoulder until the ice was formed and a long tube of ice fell into his hands. Gray pumped even more magic into it, readying the projectile it would fire.

 _“Ice Cannon!_ ”

The energy built up was immense and shone with a bright blue light. It shot towards Lyon with tremendous speed. There was no avoiding the powerful projectile. When the dust and ice mist faded, Lyon’s outfit was shredded and the wall behind him was obliterated. The stars in the sky twinkled.

“Ur taught us that, remember?”

“G-Grayy…! URK!” Lyon collapsed to the ground, utterly defeated.

Gray sighed. Finally, it was done. He was able to defeat Lyon, and he could only hope Natsu had done well on his end. Then it would all be over—

“Gah!” Gray gritted his teeth and doubled over. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, his stomach wound was burning like crazy. He placed a hand on his stomach and cool ice began spreading over the injury. “Man, I should’ve sealed this wound up earlier…!”

He finished his first-aid and looked over Lyon’s battered body. A part of him felt sad. Despite their rocky relationship and how they parted ways, they had still been taught by the same wizard. Maybe if he had told Lyon the truth ten years ago, he wouldn’t have spent all this time trying to melt the ice? Ur told him to lie to avoid this exact situation. Would the result have been different?

He couldn’t think on it any longer. The silence was shattered. An earsplitting shriek rang throughout the halls of the temple.

A roar.

The roar from his nightmares.

Deliora.

* * *

 

Natsu screamed at the pain its roar caused his sensitive ears. “IT’S SO _LOUUUUD!”_

The volume of the roar disrupted the already weakened ice. It shattered to pieces, leaving the demon’s head out in the open.

Zalty grinned beneath his mask. “Yes, it’s free!”

* * *

 

Even outside, the roar’s intensity wasn’t diminished. Makoto’s face twisted in agony. He pressed his hands to the sides of his head in a futile attempt to block out the sound. “Gahhh…! My ears…!”

“That must be it…” Yuka mumbled. “They must have finished the ceremony…”

His words were enough to shake Makoto out of his pain. “It’s awake?!”

He immediately headed off in the direction of the temple. He half-expected Yuka and Sherry to try and stop him but they just watched him go. As much as he wanted to know what they were going to do with the knowledge they now had, there was something _much_ more pressing.

“This is bad!” Makoto said to himself. “That was just its roar! And considering the damage it’s done in the past… We have to deal with it quickly, or else everyone on this island is in serious danger!”

* * *

 

Gray could feel his heart beat faster. “That sound… I could never forget that sound…”

Lyon awoke from his brief spell of unconsciousness. He was too weak to move but he knew what that sound was as well. “Deli… ora…”

“They did it…” Gray muttered in shock. “They actually revived it.”

If the demon was revived, it had to be stopped immediately before it could repeat the events of a decade prior. But magic wouldn’t be enough to kill it. Not regular magic. Gray bit his lip and stared at his hand. “There’s only one thing I can do now… Iced Shell.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's mcfruckn back, peeps
> 
> Soooo, I finally sat down and got this done. I'm not… 100% happy with it tbh but really I'm at the point where I just need to post something. I kinda wanted to wait to post this until I had written more of Ch 17, you know, make some progress. Buuuuuuut plans change :P Exam season is upon me and I have no writing to show for it. So here's Ch 16 now. This arc has been going on for a while. Whoops. Hope you enjoy it though.
> 
> Keep smiling, readers!


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